Build of Victoria’s quarantine hub needs federal cash

The Victorian government has unveiled plans for a new quarantine facility in Mickleham that is contingent on approval and funding from the commonwealth.

The proposed quarantine facility site in the northern Melbourne suburb of Mickleham. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The Victorian government has unveiled plans for a new quarantine facility in Mickleham, in Melbourne’s far north, that is contingent on approval and hundreds of million of dollars in funding from the commonwealth.

Unveiling plans for the new 500-bed quarantine accommodation, which is on commonwealth land and next to a facility used to quarantine animals, Acting Premier James Merlino said the state would spend $15m getting the project ready but asked for the federal government to pay for construction.

“The cost for the construction of the initial 500 beds is around $200m (and) the cost of an expansion to the maximum of around 3000 beds is around $700m,” he said.

Mr Merlino said the Victorian government had sent a detailed proposal to the commonwealth.

But ahead of the announcement on Thursday, federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said he had not been alerted to the plan or approached for funding by his state counterpart Tim Pallas.

“I spoke to the state Treasurer a few days ago and he didn’t raise that issue with me,” he said. “No doubt there will be discussions between states and the federal government on this quarantine issue for a long time to come.”

Mr Merlino refused to say when the state government had approached the commonwealth but said they had been “very public” about the fact they were developing a business case for an alternative quarantine facility.

“This is a surprise to no one in this country,” he said.

“We took up the responsibility of hotel quarantine over 12 months ago, as did every other state and territory.”

State Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien blasted plans for the facility as a “hoax”.

“This state government is being as sly as a fox,” he said.

“They’ve simply said they want the federal government to build a quarantine facility on federal land with federal money. That’s not a state government announcement, that’s just getting out there with a begging bowl.”

If the commonwealth declines to fund the Mickleham project, the state government will look at establishing a facility at the Lindsay Fox-owned Avalon Airport.

According to the project summary, the facility will be able to house 500 people within 12 months.

Victoria is operating its fourth version of hotel quarantine and a previous iteration of the program in 2020 sparked the state’s second wave, which killed 801 people and sentenced Melbourne to months in lockdown.

In February, an infection control breach at the Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport triggered a five-day lockdown.