Morrison challenged to be proactive on quarantine

Yvette D’Ath says Queensland needs a dedicated quarantine camp and has challenged Scott Morrison to help identify a suitable site.

BRISBANE AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos JUNE 7, 2021: Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Deputy Premier Steven Miles and Racing Minister Grace Grace. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Yvette D’Ath says Queensland needs a dedicated quarantine camp and has challenged Scott Morrison to be proactive and help identify a suitable site after the federal government’s newly released criteria seemingly ruled out a proposed Wellcamp facility.

The call from the Queensland Health Minister followed a similar call out from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who said the federal government should fund and establish quarantine ­facilities if it wanted to stipulate criteria.

Ms Palaszczuk’s pitch for a 1000-room camp to be built near the Wellcamp airport in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, was laid out in 95-page proposal given to the Prime Minister on Friday, the same day the concept was scuppered by the federal government’s new assessment criteria.

The criteria require any federally backed facility to be close to an international airport receiving regularly scheduled international commercial flights, to be commonwealth-owned, and within an hour’s drive of a tertiary hospital – three yardsticks the Wellcamp proposal does not meet.

Ms D’Ath said the proposal was not “dead” as far as the Palaszczuk government was concerned, and she would continue to advocate for it. “They put money into Howard Springs, they are willing to back Victoria, now NSW is calling for regional quarantine,” she said.

“Scott Morrison should explain why he isn’t being proactive in this space. He keeps saying Queensland needs to do more and more to justify it but why isn’t he being proactive and saying we support regional quarantine in this country, including Queensland, and we’re going to help you find that.

“But he’s not, he just keeps finding excuses.”

She rejected suggestions the Wellcamp airport, which receives regular international freight planes, was not equipped to take international commercial flights.

Ms Palaszczuk said her government had no back-up proposals and the federal government should build the facility if it wanted to dictate the terms. “If the commonwealth wants to set criteria, they can design, construct, pay for and run (it). After all, ­quarantine is a federal government responsibility.”