Covid Qld: Annastacia Palaszczuk says voters will determine if Wellcamp quarantine hub a mistake

The Wellcamp quarantine hub was a waste of over $200 million, but the Premier won’t say if she regrets it. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to say whether she regrets spending $200 million-plus on the now-mothballed Wellcamp quarantine facility, and it would be up to voters to decide at the next election whether it was a mistake.

Ms Palaszczuk today doubled down on the government’s stance that the building of the quarantine facility near Toowoomba – which has only housed about 730 people and cost taxpayers $215 million so far – was the right decision in the circumstances.

This week the government announced the facility would be mothballed from August 1, with the government’s 12-month lease of the facility – owned by the Wagner Corporation – to expire next April.

“We made the decision at the time,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“As I’ve always said, quarantine has been a federal government responsibility and we stepped up and authorised the building of Wellcamp because we needed a dedicated quarantine facility.

“Now, I don’t know what’s around the corner in one year’s time or two years’ time.

“We didn’t know that there were going to be 5114 people in hotel quarantine.”

Asked whether the decision to build the taxpayer-funded facility was the worst decision she had made as premier, Ms Palaszczuk said it would be up to voters to decide.

“My job is to keep Queenslanders safe, and I’ll stand on my record,” she said.

“The people of Queensland will have the opportunity to cast their vote in a couple of years’ time at the next state election.”

After months of pressure to release the costs of the Wellcamp facility, Deputy Premier Steven Miles revealed the figures during a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday.

Taxpayers spent a massive $198.5 million on building and leasing the facility, with further costs also incurred.

On Thursday Mr Miles said his only regret about the building of the Wellcamp facility was that the government didn’t build it sooner.

“If we had built it sooner, it would’ve been available sooner. Throughout the entire pandemic, we took a be-prepared approach and I don’t regret anything about that,” he said,

The government had repeatedly refused to release the cost of the facility, claiming it was commercial-in-confidence.

“The estimates process requires a level of rigour that is over and above restrictions like commercial-in-confidence,” Mr Miles said on Thursday, as he explained why costs could now be released.