Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner tours Pinkenba Quarantine Facility

Brisbane’s Lord Mayor has pressed for the Pinkenba quarantine facility to be used to ease some of the pressure of Queensland’s housing crisis, taking a tour of the 500-bed site on Tuesday. SEE THE VIDEO

• OPINION: Would-be hub can’t be wasted

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has toured the Pinkenba quarantine facility near Brisbane airport, again pushing for it to be used as accommodation for homeless people.

The camp was first proposed at the height of the pandemic but raised eyebrows after construction delays meant the building was finished well after Queensland’s quarantine rules were scrapped.

Pinkenba Quarantine Facility. Source: Brisbane City Council.

The Federal Government contracted the project, which is estimated to have cost some $400m and will soon decide what the 500-bed facility will be used for.

But Mr Schrinner has long advocated for the building to be used as crisis accommodation to assist the almost 46,000 Queenslanders currently on the social housing waitlist.

“There are people living in cars and sleeping in tents at the moment and this is part of the solution,” he said.

Pinkenba Quarantine Facility. Source: Brisbane City Council.

“There would be a bit of work that would need to be done to get it ready for that (crisis accommodation) use. Doing nothing or allowing it to sit empty is not an option.”

Maiwar MP Michael Berkman said using Pinkenba for housing would be a “band aid solution to a much more deeply rooted problem”.

“The underinvestment in social housing for decades now is what brought us to this point,” he said.

Brisbane City Councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan said “as a practical matter” people on low incomes who need support “shouldn’t be forced further and further out to the city fringe”.

“If someone doesn’t have a car, if someone doesn't can’t afford the bus, why would you house them in a place where there are no local support services, where there are a few job opportunities?” he said.

Pinkenba Quarantine Facility. Source: Brisbane City Council.

Pinkenba Quarantine Facility. Source: Brisbane City Council.

Mr Schrinner agreed that the building was not suitable for long-term accommodation but small modifications like a laundromat, and with a certified operator, would make it a viable short-term accommodation solution.

“We wouldn't want people staying here for months and months,” he said.

Pinkenba Quarantine Facility. Source: Brisbane City Council.

“The maintenance of this facility would be done by the defence force contractors that operate the base next to us but when it comes to activating the facility, it would require a partnership between the three levels of government and the community.”

The Lord Mayor toured the near-complete facilities on Tuesday, releasing the first inside pictures and videos of the campus.

Footage shows fairly spacious, airconditioned rooms, a large industrial kitchen facility, locker rooms and garden spaces, with the campus also featuring a purpose-built medical facility and doctors’ surgery.

The 30ha property is located on the old Damascus Barracks and was a sister project to the Wellcamp Facility in Toowoomba which quarantined just 700 people after its opening in February.

Pinkenba Quarantine Facility. Source: Brisbane City Council.

Pinkenba Quarantine Facility. Source: Brisbane City Council.