$223.5m Wellcamp quarantine hub mothballed after less than six months

It cost taxpayers $223.5 million, at an equivalent rate of $320,000 for each person who stayed there, but just 160 days after it opened, the Queensland Government’s Wellcamp quarantine facility has served its purpose and will be mothballed.

The Wellcamp quarantine facility which has cost taxpayers $223.5 million, will be mothballed from August 1, the State Government has confirmed.

Following months of refusing to reveal the overall cost, citing commercial-in-confidence, Deputy Premier Steven Miles on Tuesday finally revealed the figures associated with the contentious project.

Capital and leasing costs have totalled $198.5m while a contract with Compass Group to provide services like catering, cleaning and security have cost $9m.

About $16m has so far been spent on the contract with Aspen Medical which is providing on-site health services.

The government has also spent $14.3m for the Quarantine Management Taskforce, however this doesn’t only relate to the Wellcamp facility.

The Courier-Mail reported in April that the facility was effectively rendered useless when quarantine was scrapped for unvaccinated travellers and close contacts, just 65 days after it had opened.

A little more than 700 people have stayed at Wellcamp since it opened in February, which equates to about $320,000 per person.

The State Governments Wellcamp quarantine facility. Picture: Kevin Farmer

In a substantial statement, Mr Miles told his Budget Estimates hearing that the Toowoomba facility would be placed into care and maintenance and that the government had informed the commonwealth it would not require Pinkenba.

“Queensland’s chief health officer and Queensland Health have advised the Queensland government there is no longer a public health requirement for dedicated government provided quarantine and isolation facilities,” he said.

“I understand this is consistent with the health advice provided in other jurisdictions.

“The state government has accepted updated advice from the chief health officer and advised the Australian government we will not require use of its facility nearing completion at Pinkenba.

“QRAC will be placed in care and maintenance under similar arrangements to those at Howard Springs in the Northern Territory.

“It will cease hosting guests from one August but will remain available should the pandemic response settings change.”

BREAKING: The Palaszczuk Government has cracked and revealed Wellcamp has cost taxpayers at least $237 million and rising.

This backdown comes after months of hiding behind ‘commercial-in-confidence’.

— David Crisafulli (@DavidCrisafulli) July 27, 2022

The Deputy Premier said that before the government decided to proceed with Wellcamp, it commissioned consultants to “provide an independent suitability assessment to advise us on the least risk option for a quarantine facility for Queensland.”

“This comparative assessment found that Wellcamp was the preferred location, it was rated more favourably than Pinkenba but the Morrison government said we could only build quarantine facilities on Commonwealth land, a completely arbitrary rule, presumably to rule Wellcamp out of consideration,” he said.

“The Wagner’s already owned the land which meant we could get the facility up and running faster than any other process would allow.

“It was an emergency and the experts agreed we needed a dedicated quarantine.”

Mr Miles said an independent assessment of the capital costs deemed it to be “reasonable”.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles at the quarantine hub at Wellcamp Airport in December. Picture: Nev Madsen.

“It would have been detrimental to disclose the entire cost at the outset,” he said.

The Deputy Premier said the Quarantine Management Taskforce and the Quarantine Management Program Board would now be disbanded and the government will “consider other uses for the remainder of the QRAC lease.”

“Without QRAC, some of the most at risk individuals in the community would not have had a safe place to stay while dealing with Covid,” he said.

The government is leasing the Wellcamp facility for one year.

That lease is expected to finish in April next year.

The Deputy Premier defended claims by the LNP that the government had only released the figures after the Auditor-General confirmed it was still assessing the project on Tuesday.

“The details of their investigation was notified on their website some time ago,” he said.

“It was certainly not news to us.”

The Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre at Wellcamp Airport. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Mr Miles maintained the commercial-in-confidence defence to not reveal the cost was largely to ensure that Wagner Corporation could negotiate with its suppliers.

“We always intended to properly report these figures in our budget papers and our financial statements,” he said.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli seized upon the figures, claiming the “Wellcamp waste will forever be remembered as the price Queenslanders pay when this government prioritises politics over the genuine needs of Queenslanders.”

“We were promised a future proofing facility yet all we got was proof the state government can’t be trusted with your money to plan for our future,” he said.

“This was a trigger happy decision to try and wedge the former federal government and this waste could’ve funded nearly 2500 nurses in the middle of a health crisis.”