Annastacia Palaszczuk’s mining camp quarantine plan lands on PM’s desk
A controversial plan to use regional mining camps for COVID quarantine has finally been presented to the Prime Minister.
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The controversial plan to run hotel quarantine through mining camp accommodation in regional Queensland has been presented to Prime Minister Scott Morrison ahead of National Cabinet this Friday.
But both Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Mr Morrison are remaining tight-lipped about the details for now.
It is understood the detailed document is about 25 pages long and is expected to involve a facility at Toowoomba, connected to the Wellcamp Airport, and another at Gladstone.
The Gladstone Mayor Matt Burnett remains a fierce opponent of the plan, and has written to both Ms Palaszczuk and Mr Morrison warning that locals were opposed to the increased risk of community transmission and the lack of appropriate medical services.
While Mr Morrison is not sold on the idea, he is willing to hear the Premier out.
He has said Gladstone residents raised “clear concerns” with him over the proposal, during a recent visit to the regional centre, and that they don’t want “Brisbane problems dumped in the north”.
Ms Palaszczuk has said the Howard Springs facility had worked in the Northern Territory and she had put “additional options and ideas on the table”.
She has urged the Federal Government to do more to support the hotel quarantine process.
In a rare interview, Home Affairs Department secretary Mike Pezzullo would not weigh into the debate over whether the Federal Government should take over hotel quarantine, saying it was up to National Cabinet.
“From an operational point of view and an administrative point of view, whichever way you want to run a quarantine activity, in a federation it always have to resolve down to teamwork,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.
“The international border is controlled at the federal level, it’s clearly stated as a federal responsibility, but of course public health is a state response.”
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