Queensland pulls plug on $600m government quarantine sites

Queensland will mothball its go-it-alone privately owned regional quarantine site and has told the federal government that a separate unfinished facility near the Brisbane airport will also not be needed, citing new health advice.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles has also used a budget estimates session to reveal the $223.5 million cost incurred for the Wellcamp site, which took the first of its 730 guests so far in February, saying it “pales in comparison” next to the expected $400 million Pinkenba bill.

The purpose-built quarantine facility, dubbed the Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre, at Wellcamp near Toowoomba. It will cease hosting guests from August 1, but “remain available should the pandemic response settings change”.

“With increased vaccination coverage and community acceptance of COVID-19, the need for dedicated isolation facilities or for any contingency capacity to be held has decreased,” Miles told the state development and regional industries committee on Wednesday.

“Queensland’s Chief Health Officer and Queensland Health have advised the Queensland government there is no longer a public health requirements for dedicated government provided quarantine and isolation facilities.”

Miles said he understood this was consistent with the health advice given in other jurisdictions, and his government had advised its federal counterpart it would not need the Pinkenba site. The state’s quarantine management taskforce and quarantine management program board will also be disbanded.

“[Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre] will be placed in care and maintenance under similar arrangements to those at Howard springs in the Northern Territory. It will cease hosting guests from 1 August, but will remain available should the pandemic response settings change,” he said.

“We will consider other uses for the remainder of the QRAC lease.”

The future of the Commonwealth quarantine site, announced before Queensland’s controversial decision to work with Toowoomba’s Wagner Corporation to help build — and lease back — the site there, has been clouded in questions for months as pandemic management efforts shifted. Similar questions have been raised about the Wellcamp site.

Queensland’s acting Auditor-General, Karen Johnson, confirmed in an estimates hearing on Tuesday that a formal investigation into the QRAC Wellcamp quarantine project and government leasing arrangements had started, after the opposition wrote to the audit office in February.

Johnson said efforts had been hampered, however, with some information sought in April not yet provided.

After long arguing the costs were subject to commercial confidentiality, Miles said on Wednesday that the government had always planned to detail them during the budget process and, given the winding down of the site, there was now even less risk associated with this.

He said the original agreement had been to lease the facility, but as further detail about what was needed emerged, the government agreed to fund a previously disclosed $48.8 million upfront capital contribution. “And the remainder of the $198.5 million is the lease cost,” Miles said.

Operational costs to date include payments of $9 million to Compass Group for facility management. Miles said Aspen Medical was allocated a cap of up to $108 million for health services, but to date only $16 million had been paid. The government lease will expire in April next year.

Miles referred questions from deputy opposition leader Jarrod Bleijie about whether full payment to Aspen would be required under the arrangement to the health estimates session set for Friday, as Queensland Health was managing the contract.

In a statement, opposition leader David Crisafulli said the Wellcamp project was a “trigger-happy decision to try and wedge the former federal government”.

“A good plan for quarantine was vital,” he said. “This wasn’t it.”

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