‘Shameful’: Housing Minister ‘blindsided’ as Pinkenba homeless plan scrapped

The state government spent $550,000 on a high level report into the viability of the Pinkenba facility to house the homeless before Canberra tore up the plansfor a site for the AFP.

• Editorial: Baffling at every level

The state government spent $550,000 on a high level report into the viability of the Pinkenba facility to house the homeless before Canberra tore up the plansfor a site for the AFP.

It can be revealed Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon handed the report to the federal government – on their request – just two days before the plan was abandoned.

Ms Scanlon was blindsided by the captain’s call from Canberra, learning about it after nine months of back and forth over the site. Ms Scanlon learnt of the decision to reject the homelessness plan hours before the public.

Queensland housing bodies on Friday erupted over the federal government’s decision to convert the Pinkenba quarantine facility into an AFP training hub instead of using the spare 500-bed centre as emergency accommodation, labelling the move “shameful”.

Q Shelter Executive Director Fiona Caniglia slammed the federal government for wasting valuable time, criticising the lack of communication preventing community service providers the ability to “move onto other solutions”.

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon was “blindsided”. Pic Lyndon Mechielsen

“Time and money has been spent trying to evaluate how Pinkenba could be used and it has taken 18 months to find out that the federal government has the site earmarked for another purpose,” she said.

“We can’t afford this level of inefficiency and waste when every dollar needs to count.

“This (housing crisis) requires urgency and effective decision-making … (and) a more effective relationship between the levels of government to reach milestones earlier.”

Tensions between the state and federal governments rose last year when Scanlon was accused of not providing enough detail on how Queensland planned to use the site as emergency accommodation.

The Minister then engaged two independent contractors to provide both a technical engineering report and options report detailing exactly how the Pinkenba quarantine facility would be converted into crisis accommodation -costing taxpayers $550,000.

The Pinkenba Quarantine Facility at the Damascus Barracks in Pinkenba, Brisbane. Pic: Lyndon Mechielsen

A spokesman for Ms Scanlon confirmed the reports were provided to the federal government this week.

“The federal government advised the minister of a possible decision for the use of its Pinkenba site this week,” he said.

“That was after the Queensland government had offered $10 million and had been working on a number of requests by the federal government, including over the last few weeks.

“To furnish the Commonwealth with further detail in their decision-making, the government engaged an independent assessment, which was provided to the federal government.”

AFP members are expected to move into the Pinkenba site later this year.