New details of Qld quarantine hub revealed - a day after it’s scrapped

The Premier has told Labor’s state conference she’s still waiting for a straight answer from the Prime Minister about the Toowoomba quarantine camp plan, despite the Commonwealth knocking the proposal on the head.

Queensland’s killed-off Toowoomba Wellcamp quarantine camp would have housed returning Australians, Pacific Island labour and a small number of international university students.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today revealed the details a day after Commonwealth guidelines for regional quarantine means the Wellcamp plan cannot go ahead as it is not close enough to an international airport or tertiary hospital.

But Ms Palaszczuk told Queensland’s Labor state conference she was still awaiting a straight answer from Prime Minister Scott Morrison over the plan, despite the new guidelines being tabled at Friday’s National Cabinet meeting that Ms Palaszczuk attended.

Commenting on the new guidelines, Ms Palaszczuk said they were “interesting” because quarantine was a Commonwealth responsibility.

“If you set the criteria, you can design it, you can build it, you can operate it, you can

own it, the lot,” she said.

“Because the fact is, quarantine is a Commonwealth responsibility.”

The comments follow the Palaszczuk Government finally handing over a detailed proposal for Wellcamp on Friday, three months after an initial plan was sent on March 4 that the Commonwealth complained lacked crucial details.

The quarantine camp was proposed to run alongside Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

But Ms Palaszczuk said a regional quarantine centre “could be built right now with planes landing next door if only (Prime Minister) Scott Morrison could answer a simple question: do you support it or not?”

“Our Quarantine Centre would help stranded Australians get back from overseas, allow Pacific Island labour to help our farmers and give our universities a small cohort of students who also support our tourism and hospitality industries,” she said.

“Jobs are at stake.

“Victoria is OK. Why not Queensland?

“Friends, we are not proposing construction of an international space station.

“These are reasonably basic structures but they can provide the safety and the

certainty our country needs.

“If they’re good enough for the Northern Territory and Melbourne then they’re good enough for Queensland.”

Ms Palaszczuk arrived at the Labor conference alongside federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese to a standing ovation, where she also announced her government would build 10 new schools to open in 2023 and 2024.

Addressing the conference after the Premier, Mr Albanese said it made “perfect sense” to build a dedicated facility in Queensland.

The federal Labor leader spent the majority of his speech criticising Mr Morrison, who he said had botched the vaccine rollout and quarantine and was “a government with no purpose”.