John Wagner reveals details of how proposed Toowoomba quarantine facility at Wellcamp would work
How would a Toowoomba quarantine facility work? John Wagner has revealed several details about the proposal his company has put forward to the State Government.
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Businessman John Wagner has unveiled how a Toowoomba quarantine hub would work and why it would be beneficial for the region.
The chairman of Wagner Corporation outlined his plan to house up to 1000 repatriated Australians and other visitors in a special quarantine camp at Wellcamp, along with about 300 personnel, in a post on social media.
Mr Wagner, who took aim in the same post at critics of the proposal, said no passengers would pass through the airport terminal, and would instead jump from a chartered flight and onto buses.
“The passengers would disembark the aircraft and get on buses waiting on the tarmac and get transferred to the quarantine accommodation facility, approximately four minutes away,” he wrote.
“The passengers would have no interaction with the public or our staff (and they) would not go into the Wellcamp terminal.
“They would be bussed to the quarantine facility and be cleared for customs and immigration by Border Force officials and then go straight to their rooms.”
Mr Wagner said every facility would have its own airconditioning system to preventing the spread of the virus, and rooms would be cleaned regularly to Queensland Health standards.
“Every room will have it’s own airconditioning system to reduce the risk of airborne interaction between the passengers,” he said.
“Queensland Health will administer the facility from a health perspective and Queensland Police will look after all security.
“There will be extensive CCTV cameras and also on the perimeter fence, Wellcamp roads and there will be only one entry and exit.
“(Our) role in this facility will be to construct the facility, maintain it, and look after the food and beverage.
“The cleaning, which is overseen by Queensland Health, will be done by a local COVID-approved organisation.”
Mr Wagner said along with providing an efficient way to quarantine returning citizens, the hub could be used to house potential overseas workers and international students.
“The facility would be modelled on Howard Springs which is the only quarantine facility that has not had an outbreak,” he said.
“It will create significant economic opportunities for our region and significant employment which we desperately need.
“The staff stay on site and we won’t have the situation which we have now with hotel quarantine where cleaners working two and three jobs to get by then go into the community each day.
“There are over 100,000 international students that are studying in Australian universities who need to get back to study — they are worth in the vicinity of $6.5 billion to the Australian economy.
“I have been overwhelmed by requests for farm labour to be housed here — the farmers right across Australia are leaving millions of dollars of crops on the ground because they don’t have people to pick them.”
Mr Wagner also reaffirmed the camp would be dismantled once there was not longer a use for it.
Originally published as John Wagner reveals details of how proposed Toowoomba quarantine facility at Wellcamp would work
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