Qld Covid cases: Governments urged to find permanent quarantine solution

The quarantine hub stoush has again fired up, with Deputy Premier Steven Miles calling on the Federal Government to come up with a suitable option.

Queensland’s peak medical body has called on the State and Federal governments to break the stalemate on the Toowoomba quarantine proposal, warning the need for a fit-for-purpose site was a “matter of urgency” and “long overdue”.

It comes as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her deputy Steven Miles were on Tuesday adamant that the State Government would forge ahead with its proposal to build a 1000-bed quarantine facility next to Wellcamp Airport outside Toowoomba.

Ms Palaszczuk said the state’s latest Covid-19 scare at Brisbane’s Four Points Hotel proved a dedicated quarantine facility was required, as hotels were not meant to be the last line of defence.

But she also revealed the Government was not assessing any other sites beyond Wellcamp.

Mr Miles said it was not time to give up on Wellcamp yet, and challenged the Federal Government to put its own ideas forward if it kept “coming up with new reasons why it’s not good enough”.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles

“Come to us with a defence property, or a suitable property that you think will work because at the end of the day, we’re doing the Commonwealth a favour doing quarantine,” Mr Miles told the Queensland Media Club.

The Wellcamp proposal, first floated in January this year, remains a non-starter under the Federal Government’s criteria that any facility be within an hour’s drive of a tertiary hospital and in proximity of an airport taking regularly scheduled international commercial passenger flights.

A new $100 million air traffic control tower would also need to be built at Wellcamp Airport before it could take international passenger planes.

The Department of Defence told the Courier-Mail it had conducted a comprehensive assessment of defence facilities across the country for quarantine use, but found none met federal or state health standards due to the communal nature of the infrastructure.

Wellcamp Airport near Toowoomba

AMA Queensland president Professor Chris Perry called on all levels of government to collaborate on solutions for potential quarantine sites in Queensland, saying the spread of Covid-19 within hotel quarantine was a reality.

“Establishing fit-for-purpose facilities is long overdue,” he said.

“The suggestion of Wellcamp was a great start to the conversation, but if this can’t proceed then we need to look at other options as a matter of urgency.”

The Federal Government has maintained it is open to considering proposals by state and territory governments for dedicated quarantine facilities, as long as those blueprints meet the criteria.

In a veiled swipe at Queensland’s inability to collaborate, a government spokesman said “every other state and territory accepts responsibility in the rollout of quarantine facilities and works constructively with the Commonwealth on solutions”.

“Those partnerships are important because the states and territories have the workforce that’s required to manage and police the facilities,” he said.