John Wagner hits back at businessmen Clive Berghofer, Harvey Black over proposed Toowoomba quarantine hub

Businessman John Wagner has taken aim at “grandstanders” Clive Berghofer and Harvey Black over their opposition to a proposed COVID-19 quarantine hub at Wellcamp.

Toowoomba businessmen (from left) Harvey Black, John Wagner, Clive Berghofer.

A war of words has erupted between some of Toowoomba’s most powerful businessmen, with John Wagner firing back at Clive Berghofer and Harvey Black over their staunch opposition to a proposed Wellcamp COVID-19 quarantine hub.

Mr Wagner, who has put forward a proposal to the State Government to build a 1300-person camp near the Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, took to social media to hit back at “grandstanding” critics of the plan.

It came after Mr Black took out a full-page ad in The Chronicle late last week to call on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to reject the hub plan.

“An outbreak of COVID-19 would be devastating for the people and the businesses in our region,” his open letter said.

“There is no assurance that a biosecurity breach will not occur.

“Please Premier, don’t gamble with the safety of our community and the health of our businesses on a political whim.”

Property developer Mr Berghofer also expressed concerns about the proposal, saying and outbreak could “destroy” Toowoomba.

Mr Wagner defended the plan in his statement, saying detractors were not working with all the facts around how the hub would work.

“Firstly let me say I respect everyone’s opinion (but) I think it is important to let everyone know the facts as they are today,” he wrote.

“It is a shame that some of the grandstanders like Clive Berghofer, Harvey Black from Black Truck and Ag, and other prominent organisations, politicians and business people didn’t have the decency to actually call me to get the facts before grandstanding in the press.

“I have elderly parents and if I thought there was any risk to them, I would not proceed.

“The Wagner family are very adept at operating in highly regulated environments, for example the Wellcamp Airport and I can assure you this facility will be no different.”

Mr Wagner also reaffirmed that Wagner Corporation was not looking for government funding.

“We were asked by the State Government to submit a proposal a few weeks ago to put forward the idea of using Wellcamp as an international arrivals port and set up a quarantine accommodation facility adjacent to the airport in the Wellcamp Business Park,” he wrote.

“We put forward a proposal for their consideration to house 1000 repatriated Australians along with 300 staff working on site,” he said.

“This proposal is currently being considered by both the State and Federal governments to see if it is financially viable.

“To be very clear, Wagners is not asking any level of government for any financial assistance whatsoever.

“If it is deemed financially viable then it will proceed to the next step whereby it will be worked out as to how it will be run and how the project is executed.”

Mr Wagner’s full plan for the quarantine hub can be viewed in Tuesday’s edition of The Chronicle.