Toowoomba Wellcamp quarantine hub houses nearly 100 guests in first two weeks
The latest figures of guest numbers at the controversial Wellcamp accommodation facility have been revealed.
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The latest guest figures for the state government’s controversial quarantine facility at Wellcamp has been revealed, with a fraction of the facility currently being used to house travellers and Covid-positive cases.
As of February 23, 83 guests have quarantined at the Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre since February 5, while 16 people have been in isolation.
Currently, 28 people are quarantine at the facility while seven are in isolation, an occupancy rate of about 14 per cent.
It is understood the first cohort were non-vaccinated travellers from New Zealand and were transported by bus from Brisbane, while it is unclear where the remainder had arrived from. The newest arrivals were a mix of air and maritime arrivals.
According to the Queensland Government, two blocks comprising of 500 beds in total were made available at the quarantine hub from February 2022.
“Of this capacity, the first block of 250 beds will be used for travellers who still need to quarantine, including travellers from overseas who have not been vaccinated with a TGA-approved vaccine,” the centre’s official website states.
“The second block of 250 beds will be used for Queenslanders who are directed into isolation because their accommodation is not suitable, or they may share a household with a vulnerable person.”
With 500 out of the 1000 beds operational at the state-of-the-art quarantine hub now completed, an additional 500 beds are expected to be available at the end of March 2022.
Deputy Opposition Leader and Toowoomba South MP David Janetzki said while it was confirmed that the state government had spent $50 million on building the centre, the final bill to the taxpayer was still unknown.
“Because of the state government’s incompetence it’s impossible for anyone to know whether (the centre) is value for money or not,” he said.
“Within 24 hours last week three senior figures of the government have a different interpretation to what is ‘commercial in confidence’.
“How can any business confidently engage with the government in the future?”
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would release the secret cost of her government’s Toowoomba quarantine facility if the federal government revealed how much it’s paying for Pinkenba in Brisbane.
After six months of refusing to reveal how much taxpayers are forking out for Wellcamp, insisting the bill was commercial-in-confidence, the Premier on Wednesday pointed at the Commonwealth’s facility due to open later this year.
What remains uncertain is how long it will take before the quarantine hub reaches maximum capacity.
At a visit to the centre last week, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said it was “impossible” to estimate how many people would need to stay at Wellcamp over the next 12 months.
“We anticipate an ongoing number of arrivals,” he said.
“The number of people in hotel quarantine varied considerably throughout the pandemic, we had to be ready to take rapid surges as the pandemic played out. This facility will give us base capacity as well as surge capacity.”
Ms Palaszczuk said facility would be put to good use, including for housing unvaccinated international arrivals, seasonal workforces whose vaccinations don’t meet TGA requirements and for people needing to isolate but who cannot at home.
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