Coronavirus: $49m Wellcamp quarantine contract given to client of Labor-linked lobbyist

A medical company that won a secret Wellcamp quarantine contract has links to the Labor-aligned lobbyist who ran the premier’s re-election campaign.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk visit the Wellcamp quarantine hub on Wednesday. Picture: Nev Madsen

A medical company that secured a secret Palaszczuk government contract to run the Wellcamp quarantine precinct is a client of the Labor-aligned lobbyist who ran the Premier’s re-election campaign.

Aspen Medical was awarded the contract in January without going to tender and the government has refused to reveal how much taxpayer money will be spent on the confidential deal.

Queensland’s lobbyist register shows the firm of Evan Moorhead, one of two lobbyists who ran Labor’s 2020 campaign from Ms Palaszczuk’s CBD office, has been given extraordinary access to ministers’ offices in the past 12 months.

John Wagner with Annastacia Palaszczuk and Steven Miles at the Wellcamp facility. Picture: Nev Madsen

Mr Moorhead’s Anacta Strategies firm secured 20 meetings in the past year, eight of those in January, on behalf of Aspen Medical with the senior staffers of Ms Palaszczuk, Deputy Premier Steven Miles and Health Minister Yvette D’Ath.

The purpose of 15 of Anacta’s 20 meetings has been withheld on the grounds of being -“commercial-in-confidence”.

The government has refused to disclose how much Aspen is being paid to run the facility, -saying it is “commercial-in-confidence” and the costs will vary depending on the services required.

A leaked document show government “support costs” were initially estimated at $56m each year.

Ahead of the October 31, 2020, state election, it was revealed by The Australian that Mr Moorhead and rival lobbyist Cameron Milner – both former state ALP secretaries – were brought in to run the campaign.

It prompted then Crime and Corruption Commission chair Alan MacSporran to issue a written warning ahead of the poll about the “blurring” lines ¬between government and the private sector “with overlapping networks of association involving consultants, influencers, lobbyists and executives”.

Ms Palaszczuk helped officially launch Anacta in 2019, three months after Mr Moorhead resigned as her chief political strategist.

The lobbying firm is jointly owned with Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman’s former husband David Nelson, who is also a Labor campaign veteran.

It represents 36 clients, some of whom have scored massive contracts and financial incentives from the Labor government, including Downer Group and Glencore.

Aspen Medical has been listed as a client of Anacta since February last year, shortly after Ms Palaszczuk announced plans to build the regional quarantine centre at Wellcamp.

A state government spokeswoman defended the awarding of the contract, saying not all agreements were required to, or suited, going to tender.

“In this instance, the decision to outsource service delivery was made after consultation with both hospital and health services and other potential providers revealed that capacity could not be scaled up in time to operationalise the Wellcamp Facility,” she said.

An Anacta spokesman said: “Anacta Strategies has not made any representations on behalf of Aspen relating to the Wellcamp project.”

The government spokeswoman also said Anacta had not lobbied the government on behalf of Aspen over the Wellcamp project.

Aspen Medical, a consistent Liberal National Party donor, has also been awarded contracts by the Morrison government during the pandemic.

Queensland’s taxpayers have already spent $239m to build and lease Wellcamp, which is owned by a private company.

Ms Palaszczuk’s government struck another secret deal with the family-owned Wagner Corporation last year to build the 1000-bed facility on the outskirts of Toowoomba. The quarantine centre has been built near the Wellcamp airport, which the Wagners own, and next to an entertainment precinct it plans to build.

The state government did not conduct a tender process for construction of the site. Only 32 travellers were quarantined at the centre on Thursday.

After months of claiming the deal was subject to “commercial- in-confidence” privacy provisions, the Palaszczuk government on Thursday revealed it spent $48.8m of public funds to help build the accommodation facility and another $190m to lease it back off the Wagners for one year.

Early on, Mr Wagner said his company would not be seeking any government financial assistance to build the centre.

“To be very clear, Wagners are not asking any level of government for any financial assistance whatsoever,” he said in February 2021.

Opposition finance spokesman Jarrod Bleijie has referred the matter to the auditor-general to assess whether taxpayers “got the best value for money”.

“Transparency and accountability matters, especially when it comes to the use of public funds,” he said.

Ms D’Ath said there was a “whole range of procurement processes” that government departments must meet before contracts are awarded. “Before there’s accusations that procurement criteria haven’t been met, put those questions and get that information before we go down that rabbit hole.”

Double-vaccinated travellers have been allowed into Queensland without needing to quarantine since last month, diminishing the need for large isolation centres.