Quarantine camp to be built near Toowoomba without flight guarantee

The State Government has ignored its own advice and will build a quarantine camp at an airport near Toowoomba, despite major risks.

The State Government has ignored its own advice and will build a quarantine camp next to Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, despite having no guarantee flights will land there.

Documents obtained by The Courier-Mail under Right to Information also revealed state bureaucrats conceded the back-up bus plan to transport people posed a Covid-19 infection risk.

Taxpayers will be kept in the dark on how much the 1000-bed regional quarantine hub will cost, in a deal struck between the Government and millionaire developers Wagner Corp.

The site for the State Government’s proposed quarantine hub at Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba. Picture: Qld Government (Jack Tran)

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday announced early works on the Wellcamp facility had begun without Commonwealth support, signalling forced quarantine was still needed despite increasing vaccination rates.

But the Government has not secured any guarantee commercial passenger flights will land at Wellcamp Airport, a factor that its own bureaucrats said was crucial to the project’s viability.

Correspondence between the offices of the Premier and the Prime Minister earlier this year, obtained through an RTI application, revealed Queensland public servants needed “appropriate assurances” that flights full of quarantine residents would be organised.

“(This is) to ensure adequate utilisation of any new facility as part of any decision to progress this proposal,” a bureaucrat said.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said yesterday he hoped flights would land at Wellcamp Airport and hoped the Commonwealth would come to the table once the hub was built.

Ms Palaszczuk, borrowing from the 1989 Kevin Costner film Field of Dreams, simply said: “Build it and they will come.”

If not, people would be bussed from Brisbane to the Toowoomba facility — a move Queensland bureaucrats conceded in emails to the Prime Minister’s office would create further exposure risks.

“Transporting potential infectious passengers from Brisbane to West Wellcamp in a confined space (bus) for 90 minutes does create additional touch points and further exposure risks,” a bureaucrat said.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (second from lef) at the site of a quarantine hub that will be built at Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba with (from left) Deputy Premier Steven Miles and John, Joe and Neill Wagner. Picture: Qld Government (Jack Tran)

Quarantine residents who test positive for Covid-19 would be taken by ambulance or flown to hospitals in the southeast.

The Premier refused to reveal how much it would cost, though claiming it would be “cheaper” than the Pinkenba facility.

It’s expected the Wagners will cover the capital costs and the government will wear the operational costs.

Wagner Corp chairman John Wagner said his company was working through the final design to ensure they had the best fit for purpose facility, with 500 beds to come online by the end of 2021.

The design and operation will be closely modelled on the Howard Springs facility in the NT, and will accommodate both domestic and international travellers.

Preliminary work has begun on a quarantine hub to be built at Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba.

The land the hub will be built on is owned by the Wagners, and the state government will lease the facility from them for a period of one year, with the option to extend.

Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio said the community hadn’t been brought on the journey and deserved an urgent briefing from the state government.

“This has come as quite a surprise to us,” he said.

But he said there could be economic benefits.

The federal government rejected the Wellcamp proposal earlier this year because it was too far away from a tertiary hospital and airport already taking international passenger flights, and because the land was not government-owned.

Neill Wagner, CHO Jeannette Young, Deputy Premier Steven Miles, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, John Wagner, Joe Wagner and Health Minister Yvette D'Ath at the site of a quarantine hub that will be built at Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba. Picture: Qld Government (Jack Tran)

In a letter to the Prime Minister dated March 4, Ms Palaszczuk said it was “critical” that the federal government committed to funding the hub.

“As this is fundamental to the economic viability and ongoing sustainability of such a venture,” she said.

The Premier, in the letter, also confirmed the government “had not yet costed” the state resources needed to operate the facility.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday said the Queensland government had been “at liberty” to build the facility “for months”.

Wagner Corporation chairman John Wagner at the site of a quarantine hub that will be built at Wellcamp Airport in Toowoomba with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Joe Wagner.

Groom MP Garth Hamilton accused the Premier of going rogue and showing contempt for the health and safety of the people of Toowoomba.

He said there were huge questions still unanswered on where health staff for the facility would come from or how people could safely be transferred there.

As South Australia moves to a home quarantine trial for international travellers and the population moves to greater vaccination rates, Mr Hamilton said there were concerns for the rest of the state as well.

“The announcement shows the Premier intends to keep Queensland locked down for a long time yet,” he said.

Employment Minister Stuart Robert said Ms Palaszczuk had “given up”.

“Instead of providing hope to Queenslanders, the Premier has spent the last two days announcing more ways Queensland will continue to be locked up, even with safe vaccination targets,” he said.

Australian Medical Association president Omar Korshid welcomed the plan, saying dedicated quarantine facilities were “desperately” needed.

Queensland recorded no new cases of Covid-19 on yesterday, though 1029 infections were logged in NSW, 80 in Victoria, and 14 in the ACT.

Originally published as Quarantine camp to be built near Toowoomba without flight guarantee