Editor’s view: Pinkenba delays are unacceptable

Seven months after Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon committed $10m towards turning the vacant facility at Pinkenba into crisis accommodation, the plan has hit another roadblock.

Seven months after Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon committed $10m towards turning the vacant former quarantine facility at Pinkenba into crisis accommodation, repurposing the facility has hit another galling roadblock.

As revealed in The Courier-Mail today, the federal Department of Finance, which is responsible for the site, is now looking at leasing options elsewhere for the 500-bed site.

It’s now 18 months since Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner called for the site to be used to address the housing crisis. The council offered $1m for the transformation, the state government eventually pitched in $10m, and a range of housing and charitable advocacy groups put their hands up to manage the day-to-day operations.

18/1/2024: The Pinkenba Quarantine Facility at the Damascus Barracks in Pinkenba, Brisbane. pic: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

But the urgency has been lost and the site still sits empty, as negotiations with the federal Department of Finance appear to have gone nowhere.

A spokeswoman for the department said although it remained willing to assist the state on options it wished to pursue, work was still required to “consider possible use cases, including by the Queensland government”.

“(The department) continues to also engage with agencies across the commonwealth government regarding potential future uses for the Brisbane centre,” the spokeswoman said.

The facility now risks following in the footsteps of the Wellcamp quarantine facility – by taking so long to get up and running that it misses the crisis it was designed for.

Fiona Caniglia, executive director at the state’s peak body for homeless support Q Shelter, put it best when pleading for the site to be repurposed.

“Now is the time when we need collaboration across the levels of government together with the community services sector,” she said in November. “Homeless people need to know that we as leaders are putting them first in everything we do, running every single opportunity to ground.”

That collaboration seems to be sadly lacking, with letters from Ms Scanlon to the federal government about work needed to bring the facility up to scratch – seen by The Courier-Mail, indicating a degree of frustration.

“It is disappointing that this work has not been forthcoming as it is very difficult for Queensland to be able to articulate a formal proposal without detail around the centre’s particulars,” Ms Scanlon wrote.

Surely this is an opportunity for the Albanese government to demonstrate its supposed commitment to helping those caught up in the worst of the housing crisis.

Extensive reporting and campaigning from The Courier-Mail compelled the then Palaszczuk government to hold a housing summit in late 2022 to address the urgent need facing Queensland’s homeless.

Following the summit, now Premier Steven Miles distinguished himself among party colleagues with proactive and immediate action by pulling levers to attempt to alleviate the housing issues in his previous role as planning minister.

He now must now be equally decisive by stepping in with helping Ms Scanlon navigate the obstacles standing in her way.

On Mr Miles’s ascension Premier, one of the more celebrated Cabinet reshuffles was bolstering Ms Scanlon’s portfolio.

It was widely spruiked that adding Planning, Local Government, and Public Works to her previous Housing focus would provide all the tools necessary to combat the housing crisis. This is a major test.

But the federal government needs to begin treating this matter with the urgency it demands. With Labor in power at state and federal levels, the disconnect on this issue is both baffling and infuriating.

Too much time has already been wasted.