Mayor says ‘it would have been nice’ for WA Premier to consult before flagging quarantine facility in tourist town

A popular tourist destination is being considered for a purpose-built quarantine facility — but not everyone is on-board with the idea.

The mayor of a regional town in Western Australia says the community is fearful of a Covid-19 outbreak if a quarantine facility is established in the area.

Busselton Mayor Grant Henley said he would have preferred for Premier Mark McGowan to discuss the idea with the council before he flagged it at a press conference this week.

“It would have been nice to know that we were even being considered in the mix so we could give some thought to it before being plunged into the level of feedback and concern that we’ve had,” Mr Henley told NCA NewsWire on Thursday.

“We’ve had no consultation ... and we don’t know what the facts are — we don’t know any of the details.”

Busselton is usually known as a tourist hotspot.

When he raised the idea of looking at regional towns like Exmouth and Busselton, Mr McGowan was taking another dig at the federal government for not scrapping hotel quarantine in favour of using commonwealth facilities.

“Unless the commonwealth wants to go and build something in Exmouth or Busselton, next to a major international airport, unless they want to open Christmas Island to international arrivals, there’s no easy alternatives,” Mr McGowan told reporters on Wednesday.

“So far they have steadfastly refused to do so.”

Asked if he would look at alternative quarantine options without commonwealth input, Mr McGowan said it was not the preferred scenario.

But the state branch of the Australian Medical Association is pushing for the McGowan government to look into an alternative to hotel quarantine.

Mr Henley said much of the concern in his community came out of not knowing the details of the proposal.

He also noted there was a significant population of elderly and vulnerable people, many of whom had not yet been vaccinated against the virus.

“I think like everyone in Western Australia, if not Australia, we’re keen to see some solutions (to the pandemic) and preventing the expensive lockdowns,” Mr Henley said.

“But there is significant concern in the community and it’s causing quite a lot of stress.”

Premier Mark McGowan has flagged using regional areas to quarantine returning travellers. Picture: Supplied Marise Payne’s office

Mr Henley said while the tourist town did indeed have a large runway, it did not have a terminal.

Busselton also has a fly-in, fly-out worker base of 500 people, he added.

However, Mr Henley has not entirely ruled out the possibility of supporting the Premier’s idea.

“There is a fair bit of land around the airport that could potentially be used,” he said.

Health Minister Roger Cook told reporters on Thursday that Busselton was a “very attractive proposition” for a fit-for-purpose quarantine hub.

“It’s got a big runway that can accommodate large flights,” he said.

“In addition to that, there’s plenty of land around for the development of temporary accommodation.”

Mr Cook said Busselton Hospital was also well-equipped and the big regional hospital in Bunbury was close by too.

Meanwhile, the Morrison government is expected to green light a purpose-built quarantine facility just outside of Melbourne as early as Friday.

One proposal is for a site in Mickleham, about 30km from the CBD, which the state government wants.

The other proposal is for a site at Avalon Airport, closer to Geelong, which the commonwealth appears to prefer.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Thursday that an announcement was “imminent”.