Billionaires Lindsay Fox and John Wagner offer to run quarantine camps

Businessmen Lindsay Fox and John Wagner want to house up to 2000 international returnees at separate regional camps.

Lindsay Fox wants to build and manage a temporary town near Geelong within walking distance of the arrivals terminal at Avalon Airport, which he owns. Picture: Aaron Francis

Billionaire businessmen Lindsay Fox and John Wagner want to house up to 2000 international returnees at separate camps ­outside state capitals in Victoria and Queensland to help resolve the row over hotel quarantine ­arrangements.

Avalon Airport, owned by Mr Fox’s Linfox, is negotiating with the commonwealth and the ­Victorian government to accommodate up to 1000 international arrivals in a low-risk rural setting near Geelong — a plan that could slash the risk of further quarantine breakouts in Melbourne.

In a separate proposal, Queensland businessman John Wagner said on Monday he was aggressively backing a quarantine facility next to Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport, which would charge the same fees as existing city-based hotels and potentially take up to 1000 returnees.

Under Mr Fox’s proposal, Avalon Airport would build and manage — potentially before winter — a temporary town near Geelong within walking distance of the arrivals terminal.

That accommodation, 55km southwest of Melbourne, would give returnees their own cabins and the opportunity to move outside for fresh air, similar to the Howard Springs facility operated by the commonwealth in the Northern Territory.

The two proposals come as Victoria nears the end of its five-day lockdown, although Premier Daniel Andrews on Monday refused to commit to ending restrictions on Wednesday.

“I’d love to be able to be absolutely definitive on Monday morning about what will happen on Wednesday night, but that wouldn’t be honest,” Mr Andrews said, despite the state reporting just one new locally acquired case of the coronavirus. That case, the mother of a three-year-old who tested positive on Sunday, is the 17th associated with the cluster linked to the Melbourne Airport Holiday Inn.

The Australian on Monday reported that Mr Andrews was considering a drastic reduction in the number of international arrivals the state would take. He said on Monday the government was in a “number of discussions” about establishing more remote facilities.

“At some sites with very large amounts of space and an international airport located just next door, that’s obviously got some real strength,” he said. “That could work well for, say, charter flights, where the Australian government can direct those flights to land wherever they choose.”

In Queensland, the Wagner Corporation would build a dedicated quarantine facility to be operated by the Palaszczuk government and charge guests a capped fee.That fee would be paid by the commonwealth, with guests expected to reimburse the government those costs.

The company would pay for construction and dismantling of the camp and would not be relying on government funding.

Queensland businessman John Wagner backs a quarantine facility next to Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport, which he owns. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The facility would likely be used to cater mostly for chartered flights landing in the airport, four minutes’ drive from the camp, but Mr Wagner said there was nothing preventing commercial airliners from landing at the airport instead of Brisbane. “They can ­actually land commercial flights at Wellcamp, they don’t need to go to Brisbane or the Gold Coast,” he said. “I’d certainly like it to happen.”

Scott Morrison and commonwealth officials are resistant to taking control of the quarantine system. Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said on Sunday he had “full confidence in the Victorian set-up for quarantine”.

“The states and territories themselves actually, at a national cabinet meeting very early on, said that it should be the states and territories (running quarantine),” he said. “That’s where the public health system is run.”

Health authorities said 50 travellers in Queensland who were potentially exposed to the more contagious coronavirus strain at Melbourne Airport are still to be traced because they provided false or incorrect contact details.

Mr Fox’s company has offered Victoria access to some of the 1700ha Avalon Airport under two proposals: one where the state builds the facilities; the other where the airport builds the complex and taxpayers are billed for arrivals.

Avalon Airport chief executive Justin Giddings said the strategy would resemble Howard Springs, with returnees responsible for cooking and cleaning during the 14-day stay, and with no corridors or facility-wide airconditioning. A deep cleaning process would begin when guests left Avalon. “The risk would be remarkably lower,” Mr Giddings said. “There would be no need for anyone (outside the guest) to go into these rooms.”

In Queensland, Mr Wagner’s proposal has been backed by the Palaszczuk government and is under consideration by the commonwealth, which requested more information about the facility last week. The company estimates 500 rooms could be built within six weeks and the entire complex completed in 14 weeks. Staff employed at the facility would live onsite for weeks at a time and undergo regular testing.

Mr Wagner said hysteria had fuelled concerns in Toowoomba that the virus could escape from the facility and force lockdowns similar to those in Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said on Friday the latest lockdown in Melbourne and subsequent border closures around the country could likely have been avoided under the proposed scheme with ventilated rooms and a full-time workforce.

“One thing we can say is Victoria probably wouldn’t be going into this kind of lockdown if there was dedicated national quarantine facilities,” Mr Miles said.