Opinion: Wellcamp quarantine facility could prove to be another expensive white elephant
How can the “kneejerk” 1000-bed quarantine facility at Wellcamp Airport be approved and built within months while developers and investors go broke waiting for their own projects to be approved, asks Peter Gleeson.
Peter Gleeson
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Many moons ago, the Beattie Government faced a short-term water crisis as drought was ravaging Queensland between 2005 and 2007 and there were genuine fears that some regions may run out of water.
In fact, some regions got down to as low as 20 per cent water capacity in 2007. Nobody in the Labor Party was worried about the state’s ballooning debt and premier Peter Beattie was very keen to retain Currumbin, then held by Tourism Minister Merri Rose.
They spent an extra $200 million on the Tugun bypass to appease the greenies who were worried about a frog having to move away, and to overcome the water shortage they announced in the late 1990s the construction of the Tugun desalination plant.
The Tugun desalination plant would direct water from the nearby ocean, clean it and it could be used for water shortage emergencies.
The cost was a cool $1 billion, plus about $100 million a year in maintenance. It first started supplying water to the grid in 2009 after rust and valve decay delayed its opening.
Soon after it became operational, the heavens opened and on December 5,2010, the plant was mothballed to save money. It is used every now and then when Seqwater does maintenance to other water treatment plants.
In other words, it’s a costly white elephant. Fast-forward to September, 2021, and we’ve just seen the Palaszczuk Government announce it will go it alone on a 1000-bed quarantine facility near Wellcamp Airport, outside Toowoomba.
We’re not being told the cost because of “commercial in confidence’’ provisions in the contract, which is code for it will cost a motza, likely to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Let’s not forget that most of the international arrivals coming here – when the borders reopen – will be put into the Pinkenba quarantine facility, which is being funded by the Commonwealth Government.
All at a time when the Prime Minister Scott Morrison and others are suggesting the best course going forward for stopping the spread of coronavirus is home isolation.
Once again, the cynics might suggest – like the desalination plant – a kneejerk, costly, politically motivated decision likely to result in a facility that is rarely used.
While we’re on the Wellcamp facility, let’s take a look at the approvals process. The word is the quarantine facility will be ready by Christmas, or March, 2022, at the latest.
So with the right government and council approvals, obviously fast-tracked, the government can build a 1000-bed facility within six months?
Try telling that to developers and investors trying to get projects through government departments right now.
The time it takes to get a project approved in Queensland, with Covid sending businesses broke anyway, is appalling.
Yet with the right political will, mountains can be moved to get a project done like the Wellcamp quarantine facility.
Private investors whose projects are caught up in red and green tape within government bureaucracy are entitled to ask the question around double standards.
The government has removed all hoops and steps for Wellcamp yet in some cases in can take up to two years to get approvals for private investors.
Surely, for the next three years, the government could guarantee approval waiting times are halved to get the economy accelerating again.
Surely, for the next three years, if a project ticks all the boxes within the first six months of the application process, it can be rubber stamped, rather than sit idle, waiting for lazy bureaucrats to give it the final approval.
The reason China’s manufacturing sector is going gangbusters is that the government gets out of the way.
It’s time we did the same. And please stop the white elephants. You’re using taxpayer dollars, after all.
Bailey derails spirit of co-operation
Another day, another senior Queensland Cabinet Minister playing politics. This time it’s Transport Minister Mark Bailey, who has banned Nationals Senator Matt Canavan from a special inland rail meeting today in Gladstone.
The purpose of the meeting was to highlight the significance of the announcement made by Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce for a $10 million commitment towards a business case for the inland rail from Toowoomba to Gladstone.
In a letter to Mr Bailey, Senator Canavan said he was “astonished’’ that the Palaszczuk Government was “effectively thumbing its nose at the project and the people of Gladstone’’.
“I can only conclude that your government is happy to invest billions in a rail project in inner city Brisbane but does not want to commit to a rail project that could create thousands of jobs in regional Queensland,’’ he said.
“Getting increased investment for our state requires co-operation between federal and state governments, but it is not clear how this will occur if you will not meet with us.’’
Senator Canavan said he had met repeatedly with the Gladstone Port executive “but this is the first time the Queensland Government has barred me from meeting with them’’.
A few weeks back, Treasurer Cameron Dick wrote to Leichardt MP Warren Entsch suggesting he cross the floor to deliver on new JobKeeper payments for distressed local tourist operators.
The politics of politics.
Dial change for 4BC
4BC is changing the dial – literally. It is moving to the 882 frequency, now held by sister station 4BH, which goes to the 1116 frequency, a straight swap.
It will take effect from October 3. Macquarie bosses say the 882 frequency is cleaner and crisper for listeners.
Tamborine cable car
The Gold Coast City Council want to develop a cable car linking Mount Tamborine to Nerang. The proposal, once given the green light by authorities, would then be put out to tender for private investment.
It comes as Local Government Minister Steven Miles considers a vote of locals wanting to secede from Scenic Rim council and join the Gold Coast.
The vote was overwhelming, with 66 per cent of locals wanting to join Gold Coast City Council. They say they’re being used as a milch cow by Scenic Rim, and not getting adequate resources.
Not a bar of it
Plans for beach bars on the Gold Coast have hit a snag. The council want it, locals want it, investors want it, but somebody high up in government is running dead on it, say sources.
Hot Green mess
Heaven help us. Greens councillor Jono Sri has written on his Facebook page that he was confident that the Brisbane City Council would one day soon be run by a Labor-Greens-independent cabal.
“Then we will be able to require all developers to set aside a significant proportion of their site for new trees, rather than building right to the property boundaries and not leaving enough space for greenery,’’ he said.
What a hot mess that triumvirate would be for an Olympic city.
Jockey shortage woes
The jockey shortage in Queensland continues. At Mt Isa recently, 17 horses were scratched because there were no riders. Imagine the poor owners and trainers who put money into those horses being unable to race because there wasn’t a rider.
Where’s Racing Queensland on this disgraceful situation?
Border privileges
Late mail out of the exemptions unit at Queensland Health is that a man in his 30s, a surveyor, crosses between the NSW and Queensland border regularly, is against being vaccinated, and is allowed to quarantine at home. He’s currently in Inverell, NSW.
No wonder “ordinary’’ people are filthy.
Colourful Kennedy
There will be many from the Joh era who are thankful Jim Kennedy, who died Friday, never wrote a book.
Kennedy, 87, knew all the rogues, and having heard most of the stories, they’re all true!
Botched surgeries
Nurses want a judicial inquiry into the botched surgeries at Caboolture Hospital. Having Queensland Health do it is like asking Dracula to look into the Blood Bank.
Mackerel quota shock
Spanish mackerel professional fishermen in North Queensland up in arms over a new quota system to be introduced next year. They say it will send them broke.
