Wellcamp decision making the worst example of pandemic politics

Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Wellcamp quarantine decision was possibly the most harebrained decision to come out of the Covid pandemic, writes The Editor. VOTE IN OUR POLL

One of the great challenges of being in government – especially in tough economic times – is the constant battle to deliver projects on time and on budget, providing value for money for taxpayers rather than wastage.

It is often almost impossible to achieve and cost blowouts are inevitable, especially as we see inflation and building expenses skyrocket. Nevertheless, even before inflation took off earlier this year, the construction industry has complained it is constantly waging a battle with unions such as the CFMEU – emboldened by its support from Labor – that are routinely jacking up the cost of projects by as much as 30 per cent.

But while inflationary pressures and the cost of doing business are one thing, wastage and numbskull decision-making should be exposed if it is poor policy and done as political expediency.

Such is the case with the former Wellcamp quarantine facility, outside Toowoomba, set up to cater for overseas travellers forced to isolate on their return.

The decision to proceed with the state-funded facility a year ago came during a heightened political environment where nasty rhetoric was being waged between the-then Morrison government and the Palaszczuk government.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during a visit to the Wellcamp quarantine hub earlier this year. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Both were guilty of one-upmanship on a whole range of Covid-19 policy issues, but the Wellcamp decision will go down as possibly the most harebrained of them all. Not only was it shrouded in secrecy – its costs hidden under the old chestnut of “commercial in confidence’’– but there was a political stench attached to the decision right from the start.

The Commonwealth had proposed the Pinkenba quarantine facility, which will now likely be used to house the homeless, but the Palaszczuk government blindly and foolishly proceeded with Wellcamp – despite the pandemic landscape changing by the day.

Watching what was happening in other countries – even a year ago – you didn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that international and domestic hotel quarantine would be phased out pretty quickly as vaccination rates hit 90 per cent.

Now, the Wellcamp quarantine facility is a white elephant, with hotel quarantine measures no longer necessary for overseas tourists and the government consequently breaking its lease.

And we now know that Wellcamp cost Queensland taxpayers – up until Wednesday – a staggering $237m for a facility we will never own and that we are handing back the keys to months early. Just 730 people have stayed at Wellcamp – at a cost of $325,000 per person, half the average cost of a home in Brisbane.

At a time when the state’s health system is in crisis, requiring billions to properly fix it, this is a wasteful episode the government must acknowledge as terrible decision-making – if not downright neglect.

After all, the Wellcamp waste happened while the state government was still paying tens of millions of dollars for empty hotel rooms and with a Commonwealth-owned facility being planned for Pinkenba – right next to Brisbane Airport, not a two-hour drive away like Wellcamp.

The LNP claimed on Wednesday it was “a trigger-happy decision to try to wedge the former federal government, and this waste could have funded nearly 2500 nurses in the middle of a health crisis’’. We agree with that analysis.

The state government signed a 12-month lease with the Wagner Corporation to use the 1000-bed facility, as well as $9m to the Compass Group for the facility’s management, including catering and security.

Aspen Medical was awarded a contract to provide on-site medical services, at a cost of $16m so far, with provision for a cap of $108m. The state had also paid the quarantine management task-force a total of $14.3m to June 30.

The Auditor-General’s office has confirmed it is investigating the costs associated with this debacle, as it should. Putting aside the claim that Wellcamp was a political manoeuvre by the government, on any measure, on any level, this is a five-star fiasco.

Expect it to be trotted out – quite rightly – by the opposition over the next two years as an example of a government that seems to be losing its way more every day.

Meanwhile, we can all file the word “Wellcamp” under “waste” in the Queensland politics dictionary.

Originally published as Wellcamp decision making the worst example of pandemic politics