Wellcamp quarantine hub to be mothballed, cost taxpayers $223m
The state government has been blasted for ‘prioritising politics over the genuine needs of Queenslanders’ after the $223m cost to taxpayers of the Wellcamp quarantine hub was revealed.
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Taxpayers spent a staggering $223m on the Palaszczuk government’s Wellcamp quarantine facility that will be mothballed just six months into its lease.
Almost a year after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced her government was going it alone with the Toowoomba centre, and after repeatedly refusing to reveal the cost because of commercial-in-confidence, the bill has finally been released.
Taxpayers spent $198.5m on building and then leasing the facility for 12 months from April.
A further $9m was spent on a contract with Compass Group to provide services such as catering, cleaning and security at the facility.
About $16m has been spent to date on the contract with Aspen Medical for on-site health services.
The government has also spent $14.3m for the quarantine management task-force, however, this doesn’t only relate to the Wellcamp facility.
About 730 people have stayed at Wellcamp since it opened on February 5 – equating to more than $300,000 being spent on each person.
Taxpayers will continue to foot the bill until April next year when it is expected to be handed back to the Wagner Corporation for private use.
The opposition seized on the mammoth bill, declaring that 2500 nurses could have been employed for the same cost as the health system continued to grapple with unrelenting pressure.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles unveiled the figures during a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday, where he also revealed the Wellcamp facility would be placed into care and maintenance from August 1.
The state has also informed the commonwealth its Pinkenba facility in Brisbane would not be required.
It follows advice from Queensland’s chief health officer and Queensland Health that there was no longer a public health requirement for dedicated government-provided quarantine and isolation facilities.
“I understand this is consistent with the health advice provided in other jurisdictions,” Mr Miles said.
“QRAC (Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre) will be placed in care and maintenance under similar arrangements to those at Howard Springs in the Northern Territory.”
However, Wellcamp will remain available for quarantine until April next year should it be needed.
The state has been under pressure to reveal the project’s cost after it revealed that Wagner Corporation was awarded the contract without a tender process.
Chairman John Wagner declined to comment on Wednesday, however, Mr Miles said the company agreed to disclose the costs.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli slammed the facility as a waste of money.
“The Wellcamp waste will forever be remembered as the price Queenslanders pay when this government prioritises politics over the genuine needs of Queenslanders,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“We were promised a future proofing facility, yet all we got was proof the state government can’t be trusted with your money to plan for our future,” he said.
“This was a trigger-happy decision to try and wedge the former federal government and this waste could’ve funded nearly 2500 nurses in the middle of a health crisis.”
Mr Miles maintained the commercial-in-confidence defence to not reveal the cost was largely to ensure that Wagner Corporation could negotiate with its suppliers. “We always intended to properly report these figures in our budget papers and our financial statements,” he said.
“Now that we are in an estimates process, looking at those budget papers, it seemed to me entirely appropriate for us to disclose more fulsomely, especially now that all of those contract negotiations have been concluded, and in the context of us advising the 1 August mothballing date for the facility, clearly that further reduced the risks associated with disclosing those sums,” Mr Miles said.
Mr Miles noted that an independent assessment of the capital cost found it to be “reasonable”.
And he said that before the government decided to proceed with Wellcamp, it commissioned consultants to look at “the least risk option” for a quarantine facility.
“This comparative assessment found that Wellcamp was the preferred location, it was rated more favourably than Pinkenba, but the Morrison government said we could only build quarantine facilities on commonwealth land, a completely arbitrary rule, presumably to rule Wellcamp out of consideration,” he said.
“The Wagners already owned the land, which meant we could get the facility up and running faster than any other process would allow.
“It was an emergency and the experts agreed we needed a dedicated quarantine facility,” Mr Miles said.
Mr Miles also revealed the quarantine management task-force and the quarantine management program board would be disbanded.
The government is yet to determine what the facility could be used for, despite it effectively being rendered useless in April when quarantine requirements changed.
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