Treasurer writes to Queensland counterpart to claw back $105 million in unpaid Covid debt

Treasurer Cameron Dick has rejected the latest claim from NSW for more than $100m in allegedly unpaid Covid-19 quarantine expenses.

Treasurer Cameron Dick has rejected the latest claim from NSW for more than $100m in allegedly unpaid Covid-19 quarantine expenses.

NSW claims the Sunshine State still owes $105m to cover the costs of its residents undertaking hotel quarantine in Sydney at the start of the pandemic.

However Steven Miles, now Queensland premier, sensationally ripped up the bill in a 2021 social media stunt attacking then prime minister Scott Morrison.

Now, in a letter to Mr Dick, his NSW counterpart Daniel Mookhey has written: “I refer you to previous correspondence from NSW Treasury to Queensland Treasury regarding hotel quarantine fees for Queensland residents during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles ripped up the hotel quarantine bill in a 2021 social media stunt. Picture: Sky News Australia

“The people of NSW are owed $105 million by the Queensland government to cover services provided to more than 18,000 residents of Queensland who stayed in NSW hotels.”

Mr Mookhey told Mr Dick that NSW needed the money to fix its state budget.

“Significant economic headwinds and the withdrawal of considerable Commonwealth funding – a topic with which you can no doubt relate – has left the state’s finances in need of repair,” he said.

“I would appreciate you turning your attention to resolving this matter.”

The letter was sent on Thursday and obtained by The Courier-Mail.

The bill dates back to the early days of Covid-19, when returning Australians could undertake two weeks of hotel quarantine for free.

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has written to Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick seeking $105 million in unpaid bills. Picture: Richard Dobson

NSW shouldered the largest burden from hotel quarantine as the majority of Australians returning to Australia came through Sydney.

In April 2020, treasurers agreed that each state would cover the cost for their own residents even quarantined interstate.

The Victorian government in 2021 established a process to reimburse NSW some $86 million it cost to put returning Victorians through hotel quarantine, but Queensland – and Western Australia – have so-far refused to pay.

The Queensland government claims that no deal was ever signed.

Mr Dick told The Courier-Mail: “Queensland never received an intergovernmental agreement to sign from (then NSW premier) Dominic Perrottet or the NSW government with respect to hotel quarantine, so no agreement between the states exists.

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick. Picture: Evan Morgan

NSW Treasurer, Daniel Mookhey said the funds are needed to restore the budget. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Monique Harmer

“NSW is free to pursue additional funding through interstate GST arrangements."

The NSW government said the $105m Queensland owed would be enough to employ 200 much-needed nurses.

Last year, Mr Mookhey said NSW would try to recoup the cost by deducting money we pay to Queensland.

That never went ahead because bureaucrats said it could not be done.

In 2021, Treasury officials advised that an “interstate reimbursement working group” had been established to recoup debts from hotel quarantine.

The group included treasurers from all states and territories except Queensland, WA, and the Northern Territory.

State governments were supposed to reimburse each other for the cost of their residents quarantining interstate. Picture

Originally published as Treasurer writes to Queensland counterpart to claw back $105 million in unpaid Covid debt