The Queensland government is standing by its decision to build and maintain a multi-million dollar COVID-19 quarantine facility located around 145 kilometres west of the state’s biggest city, Brisbane, that has seen limited use since it was completed.
Just 700 people have been through the 1000-bed facility since it was opened in February, built at an estimated cost of $190 million (US$131 million), of which the state of Queensland is rumoured to have contributed A$48.8 million (US$33.66 million).
Steven Miles, the Deputy Premier of Queensland, said funds were used to terminate contracts and pay outstanding invoices.
“So the vast bulk of that amount was associated with the wind-down of the hotel quarantine program,” Miles told reporters on July 24.
“It was a very big and substantial program, and you would understand why we wanted to make sure that we complied with all of our contractual obligations.”
Doubling Up on Quarantine Facilities
Queensland opposition leader David Crisafulli has called it an “extraordinary amount of waste.”“The state government no longer values the public money, the state government no longer values open and transparency, and they’re hiding behind this cloak of commercial in confidence.”
The Labor government gave construction the green light after an offer from private investor John Wagner to build the facility located in Wellcamp, west of the inland city of Toowoomba. The state government also outlined concerns that the federal Liberal-National government had failed to provide adequate quarantine facilities for COVID-19 infected travellers.
The federal government is currently building a facility in the Brisbane suburb of Pinkenba—almost adjacent to the city’s airports and cruise terminal. The Queensland government has since mothballed the opening of the facility at the same time it announced the end of its lease of Wellcamp..
The premier has been reticent to reveal the exact costs of the facility and how much the state is contributing to it. This has led to anonymous sources leaking figures to media outlets.