Wellcamp quarantine hub: Toowoomba Regional Council unaware of Queensland Government’s Wagner agreement

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announcement that construction had started on a 1000-bed quarantine hub at Wellcamp Airport caught everybody by surprise, including the mayor.

Toowoomba’s Mayor Paul Antonio was on his way back from a council event at Oakey when he was told a 1000-bed quarantine Covid hub was coming to his city.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced yesterday the state government had come to terms with Wagner Corporation to form a partnership to build and operate a quarantine hub at Wellcamp Airport, owned by the Wagners.

Mr Antonio said he was surprised that neither he nor anyone else at Toowoomba Regional Council were informed of the major decision.

Toowoomba Regional Council Mayor Paul Antonio.

“In saying that the decision has been made by the state government, they are legislatively able to make that kind of decision and now the first thing I would ask is that the State Government visits Toowoomba as soon as they possibly can to give myself, my colleagues and this community an update on where we are,” he said.

“I’m quite suprised by it. We’ve been on this journey for quite some time. It’s disappointing to me that we weren’t brought on this journey.”

Mr Antonio said he was informed of the decision by staff as the Premier’s press conference was taking place.

“I had a lovely morning at the mayoral prayer breakfast in Oakey and I had a phone call (from a staff member) asking me if I was invited to the press conference, and I said ‘what press conference?’,” he said.

“I got back to the office and my staff had been watching the announcement and it was very clear that we had been bypassed in the conversation and now we’re having a quarantine facilty built here.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at the site of a quarantine hub that will be built at Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba.

Mr Antonio confirmed the State Government was able to move ahead with the facility without development application approval.

“I clearly understand the concerns there are of many people in the Toowoomba area, you’ve only got to turn on the TV and see the case numbers in NSW to see that Covid has the capacity to spread very quickly,” Mr Antonio said.

“I think anyone in Toowoomba that hears this news would naturally have some concerns about that.”

Mr Antonio also acknowledged the economic benefit that would come from the facility.

Wagner Corporation chairman John Wagner said the facilty would be world-class, and provide up to 450 jobs during construction which is expected to continue through to the first quarter of 2022.

ALL SMILES: Wagner Corporation chairman John Wagner at the announcement a quarantine hub would be built at Wellcamp Airport, owned by the Wagners.

Mr Antonio said the quarantine facility presented an opportunity for the State Government to invest further in Toowoomba’s healthcare for the future.

The Queensland Government has been under pressure to build a new Toowoomba Hospital.

“We should also go back to the Queensland Government and say, ‘hey, you really need to build us a new hospital’,” he said.