Covid Qld: Wellcamp built on advice of former chief health officer, Steven Miles says

As Deputy Premier Steven Miles says his only regret over Wellcamp was that it wasn’t built sooner, the opposition has accused the government of ‘rewriting history’.

Steven Miles says the only regret he has over Wellcamp was that it wasn’t built sooner as he dodged questions over whether he thought the $223m defunct quarantine facility was good value for money.

The Deputy Premier revealed that the government had been assessing since February whether the site could be used in alternative ways – but none had been identified so far.

Turning the site into a mental health facility, using it to house homeless people, or utilising it for drug and alcohol rehabilitation are among the options that have been assessed by officials.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday - where he revealed the state has recorded its highest daily deaths total in five months - Mr Miles was asked if he thought Wellcamp was good value for money. While he wouldn’t directly answer the question he insisted it was the right decision to go ahead with the facility at the time.

“The only regret I have is that we didn’t build it sooner,” he said.

“If we had built it sooner, it would’ve been available sooner. Throughout the entire pandemic, we took a be-prepared approach and I don’t regret anything about that.”

The Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre at Wellcamp will close. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Mr Miles said the government had received approaches for other ways to use the site, which officials were considering.

“The nature of these facilities though is that they are built to quarantine people. They are built to keep people away from other people,” he said.

“And that doesn’t necessarily suit many of the other uses that people have suggested.

“There have been assessments made about whether it would be suitable as a health facility, as a mental health facility, as a drug and alcohol facility, for homeless people, for victims of domestic violence.”

Mr Miles meanwhile confirmed the state government only formally advised the federal government on Wednesday that the Pinkenba quarantine facility would no longer be needed as well.

The Deputy Premier said the decision to no longer use the Wellcamp facility was made earlier in the week following an “ongoing discussion”.

Mr Miles said the lease for using the site could be terminated earlier, but it would incur very similar costs to what the government was already paying.

He also defended the government’s decision to not build a facility that taxpayers would own rather than lease.

“Nobody supports public ownership more than I do,” Mr Miles said.

“But there are certain facilities you want to own and there are certain facilities you want to have access to on the rare occasion that you need them.

“A facility that is likely to be only needed once in every 100 years, we don’t want to own that. There are costs in ownership.”

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

The government finally revealed during budget estimates on Wednesday that taxpayers spent a massive $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 at the site, while about $16m has been spent to date on a contract with Aspen Medical.

The Palaszczuk government had repeatedly refused to release the costs, claiming it was commercial-in-confidence.

“The estimates process requires a level of rigour that is over and above restrictions like commercial-in-confidence,” Mr Miles said on Thursday, as he explained why costs could now be released.

“We have legal advice for example that if compelled to disclose something to the parliament, that overrides commercial-in-confidence arrangements.”

Mr Miles said the state had written for “months and months” for the facility before the federal government built Pinkenba first.

He said other states had also seen isolation facilities mothballed.

“We weren’t the only people who thought we needed a quarantine facility,” he said.

Mr Miles said the terms of the lease of Wellcamp were “very clear”.

“We could terminate it (the lease) sooner but that would incur extra costs,” he said.

Advice to build Wellcamp came from former CHO Dr Jeannette Young who said the state could no longer rely on hotel quarantine, Mr Miles said.

Former chief health officer Jeannette Young. Picture: John Gass

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the Palaszczuk government was attempting to “rewrite history” by claiming it was the right decision to build Wellcamp.

“To see the Deputy Premier today double down and rather than say sorry to Queenslanders for the waste, to attempt to rewrite history and to attempt to say that this was not really about future proofing after all, that it was a one and 100 year event and therefore... is a good deal for taxpayers is bitterly disappointing,” he said.

“At the time there was a very clear view from everyone other than the Premier and Dr Miles that this wasn’t going to work.

“That was a decision by a state government looking to play pandemic politics with a political opponent in Canberra.”

Mr Crisafulli said the money could have been spent to hire 2500 new nurses, 950 ambulance vehicles or 130 intensive care beds “in the middle of the Queensland health crisis.