PM weighs into mining camp quarantine proposal

Scott Morrison has rejected a central Queensland quarantine hub but left the door open to an alternative option in the southeast.

Scott Morrison has rejected a Queensland Government proposal to quarantine international arrivals in Gladstone, but left the door open to using Toowoomba for “supplementary capacity”.

The Prime Minister’s strongest comments to date on the regional quarantine proposal comes as National Cabinet prepares to discuss the borders and international arrival caps today.

Safely managing hotel quarantine systems around the country, which are the frontline of the nation’s defence against COVID-19, remains the key to allowing more stranded Australians to return home.

Systems around the country have come under the microscope following recent cases of hotel workers in Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth becoming infected with the virus.

Homeground Villages near Gladstone was put forward as a possible quarantine hub.

The Melbourne case prompted Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young to warn Queenslanders to reconsider travel plans to the city in case they were “caught” out if the Victorian capital was suddenly declared a COVID hotspot.

Dr Young said health officials would need to see what transpired over the next 24 to 48 hours as they held off shutting the border to Victoria.

At the last National Cabinet meeting, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk raised a proposal to shift some of load from the hotel quarantine system to rural mining camps but provided little detail about how it would work.

Yesterday Mr Morrison said he supported plans for alternate quarantine facilities but any proposal had to meet key concerns about transportation, access to intensive care facilities and a clinical workforce.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says a quarantine facility in Gladstone is not a good idea. Picture: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

But he ruled out one of the most prominent plans from the Queensland Government for a mining camp at Calliope, near Gladstone.

“It is not practical to offload the burden of quarantining overseas arrivals to Gladstone,” he said.

“It’s not a good idea.

“If we were to see an outbreak in central Queensland it would be devastating for the local community and economy.

He said the Commonwealth was providing a detailed list of issues and questions to the Queensland Government so it could properly assess the variability of another proposal based around Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport.

It’s understood the central Queensland plan was rejected because Rockhampton Airport, where passengers would have arrived, was unlikely to be able to withstand landings from multiple long range flights.

There were also concerns about the airport’s lack of freight handling facilities, the distance from the proposed quarantine facility to an intensive care unit and low likelihood of a clinical workforce available to support the facility

A spokesman for Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she had put forward the concept of regional facilities away from densely populated urban centres due to the absence of a national quarantine plan.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is happy the Prime Minister is saying there’s still a chance for a quarantine facility in Toowoomba. Picture: Attila Csaszar

“In order for this concept to work, we need to partner with the Commonwealth,” she said.

“It’s great that the Prime Minister has agreed to progress the concept, especially as it was recommended in the Halton Review.”

Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry said her office had been inundated with phone calls and emails from residents concerned about the proposal.

“I always considered the notion of putting a quarantine camp in the middle of regional central Queensland as counter-productive, given how well we have done during the pandemic and how much regional industries like mining and agriculture has helped Australia’s economy,” she said.

“It would be a very reckless action to take by the Queensland Government, especially when very little to no community consultation has occurred.”

Member for Flynn Ken O’Dowd said the lack of medical facilities and the risk to industry far outweighed any benefits gained by shifting quarantine facilities to Gladstone.

“I have said all along, there are much better proposals that should have been put to Government to consider.”

National Cabinet tomorrow will also receive a briefing on the vaccine roll out following yesterday’s announcement the government had secured an extra 10m doses of the Pfizer vaccine, doubling the amount available.

Other agenda items include an economic update from Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy and the latest on seasonal worker shortages.