Coronavirus: Palaszczuk’s quarantine bill a secret

The Queensland Premier has refused to say how much Queensland taxpayers will spend on her government’s dedicated quarantine facility to be built near Toowoomba.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk won’t say how much the quarantine hub will cost. Picture: David Clark

Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to say how much Queensland taxpayers will spend on her government’s dedicated quarantine facility, to be built near Toowoomba.

The Queensland Premier has cited commercial confidentiality to keep secret how much money would be spent or what portion of the total cost would be covered by the government

Sources close to the project say the original proposal put to the commonwealth to build and run the facility for a year was about $300m.

About half of that was expected to come from taxpayers and the rest from the Wagner Corporation, which will build the hub.

“I can tell you now it’s cheaper than the Victorian model, it’s probably cheaper than the Western Australian model and probably cheaper than the federal model,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

The government announced on Thursday it would go it alone to build the quarantine hub next door to the Wellcamp airport without the federal government, after Scott Morrison said it was not an appropriate location. Instead, Mr Morrison has committed to build a joint federal-state quarantine facility at Pinkenba, near Brisbane Airport.

It’s likely the Wellcamp facility would be used to quarantine interstate arrivals while the Pinkenba centre would be used for international arrivals.

Ms Palaszczuk appeared short on detail when asked about the Wellcamp plan and could not say whether there were existing Customs officers at the airport to process international arrivals if the facility was eventually used to quarantine people arriving from overseas directly into Toowoomba.

The Premier also could not say if any airlines had given assurances they would direct flights to Wellcamp.

Ms Palaszczuk did say it was an international airport and that a flight had landed there on Thursday; however, she did not point out that it was a freight flight.

The federal government on Friday announced construction company Multiplex as the contractor to build the Pinkenba hub, with work to begin “shortly” and the first 500 beds to be available early next year.

“We’re getting on with the job of delivering this quarantine facility for Queenslanders,” Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said.

“Whilst it will be used for any ongoing quarantine requirements during the Covid-19 pandemic, it will also be there in the years to come to support responses to natural disasters or other crises.

“Unlike state proposals, the Pinkenba site is appropriately close to Brisbane International Airport and all necessary medical facilities, including three major hospitals.”

Ms Palaszczuk said both quarantine facilities were needed.

“If we have both, that means we won’t have to have hotel quarantine,” she said.

Deputy Opposition Leader David Janetzki, who represents Toowoomba South, said the government needed to show detailed plans about how the facility would operate. “We saw no plan, no plan for how our community will be protected,” he said.

Federal Groom MP Garth Hamilton said Ms Palaszczuk needed to give assurances that she was focused on “opening up” the state once enough people are vaccinated.

“I’m focused on opening up, that’s where the national plan is taking us,” he said.

“I want some assurances from Annastacia Palaszczuk that she will follow the plan when we hit 80 per cent and the need for domestic quarantine won’t be there.”