Proposal for Wellcamp quarantine facility 15 pages with no costings

Annastacia Palaszczuk has hit out at claims the state’s plan to build a regional quarantine facility is made up mostly of pictures.

The Premier has refused to say whether a submission to the federal government to build a regional quarantine facility at Toowoomba is mostly made up of pictures.

Annastacia Palaszczuk said reports that Queensland’s proposal for the facility was just 15 pages long, with nine of those filled with pictures, maps and diagrams and no clue as to how much it would cost or who would run it, were “just ridiculous”.

The pictures are believed to include a tennis court, gym facilities, an example of a bedroom and a communal dining area for staff, it can be revealed as demands grow for the Premier to publicly release the proposal the Federal Government has repeatedly rejected due to lack of detail.

In stark contrast, the Victorian government presented a 70-page costed proposal for its own purpose-built quarantine facility within 40 minutes drive of Melbourne’s main hospital, of which Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been supportive.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk insists the Federal Government doesn’t need more information. Picture: David Clark

Queensland’s 15 pages includes a two-page letter from the Premier with no costings, nine pages of photos, diagrams and maps and another four pages of miscellaneous details, it is understood.

Ms Palaszczuk would not say what details it had provided, declaring discussions were “commercial in confidence”.

“There have been ongoing discussions with the departments,” she said.

“I’m not going to get into this slanging war.”

She declined to say whether the facility would cost $70m to build.

“I’m not going to be rasing commercial in confidence publicly,” she said.

“Look, we were able to meet an agreement with the federal government on the Olympics, this is a no-brainer.

“I don’t understand why the federal government won’t sit down and be constructive.”

Ms Palaszczuk has repeatedly said that the Federal Government “doesn’t need any more detail” and that more specifics are being worked out on a departmental level.

But sources have said the details yet to be sorted include the cost, clinical workforce and any required specialist equipment.

It is understood there is a proposal for two government-facilitated flights a week bringing 200 people.

Groom MP Garth Hamiliton, representing the Toowoomba region, says he is fed up with politicking over a quarantine facility for his city and is challenging the Premier to release her proposal.

He says if planes land at Toowoomba’s Wellcamp airport, any positive cases would take out an ambulance from the already stressed system for a day, as it makes the two hour journey to Brisbane, gets cleaned and has to turn back.

“If I’m wrong on that, provide the details. I’ve been asking for them since January 25,” Mr Hamilton said.

“If she thinks she’s provided enough detail, it’s simple to see who’s right and wrong, release the details. Then we’ll know.”

Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio has also expressed frustration at the lack of information from either government.

“At this point in time, I have not received a formal reply from anybody,” he told 4BC.

But a spokesman for the Premier said discussions between state and federal departments are ongoing.

The quarantine facility would be built near Wellcamp Airport, west of Toowoomba.

“Further community engagement will take place at the appropriate time,” he said.

“Quarantine is a federal government responsibility.”

Wagner Group’s John Wagner, had been involved in proposing the 1000-bed facility and said he would not be asking for any government funds to build the facility.

Mr Wagner declined to comment yesterday.

The quarantine facility fight was reignited this week when Mr Morrison on Monday described the Toowoomba and Victorian proposals as “chalk and cheese”.

“We still couldn’t get straight answers on whether this proposal in Toowoomba was about replacing hotel quarantine or supplementing hotel quarantine, so there was just not enough detail, not enough answers to the questions that you needed to properly assess,” he said.

Ms Palaszczuk this week accused the government of playing favourites on the proposed quarantine facilities.

“It’s a bit rich cherry picking which ones (quarantine hubs) the Federal Government likes and which ones they don’t like,” she said.

“Are they going to allow flights to land into the airport, yes or no.

“His big plane has landed in Wellcamp before.”

Victoria’s proposed Mickleham Quarantine Facility would be about 40 minutes from both the airport and Melbourne’s main hospital.

It would be run by Victoria Health and has estimated construction costs of $200 million to $700 million.

The Howard Springs Quarantine Facility in Darwin, which will cost the Commonwealth up to $513.5m, is 25 minutes from the city’s main hospital and 20 minutes from the airport.