Despite the huge taxpayer-funded price tag, the center will fall into disuse within days, just months after opening.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said while the state government’s response during the height of the COVID-19 restrictions last year could have been improved, the commissioning of the quarantine facility was necessary at the time moment The State Government has declared it no longer needs designated quarantine facilities just months after opening the $220 million Wellcamp centre. (new)
Miles pointed to the advice of then-health director Jeanette Young, who declared the need for alternative hotel quarantine arrangements as the Delta strain spread around the world.
“That was the right decision at the time,” Miles said.
“It’s easy enough to go back in time and rewrite history, pretend things were different.
“Throughout the pandemic we took a prepared approach and I have no regrets.”
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the facility should have been built sooner. (new)
The state government issued a statement this week saying Queensland no longer needed a designated quarantine facility.
Residents have nicknamed the 1,000-bed center “Wastecamp” as the federally funded Pinkenba facility, which also cost hundreds of millions of dollars, sits idle nearby.
The state government will continue to pay the multimillion-dollar commercial lease on the building until April next year.
When asked if he would do anything differently, Miles said he “would have built it earlier.”
“We should have gone ahead and built it sooner.”
The commercial property is owned by the Wagner Corporation and leased by the state government. (new)
The Wagner family now owns the Wellcamp facility, accommodation built next to their airport and entertainment complex.
“The reality is we offered a deal to the government … they accepted it,” John Wagner said.
“If Scott Morrison hadn’t turned it into a political football, we would have built it long before we did.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was questioned about the value for money and the level of need for the center from the first day the project was proposed.
“If you build it they will come,” he told 9News on August 26 last year.
The prime minister has also been accused of announcing the camp without consulting local and federal governments.
The subvariants and mutations of COVID-19
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the $220 million would have been better spent bolstering the state’s public health response by hiring new staff.
“This money could have given 2500 new nurses, 950 ambulances, 230 intensive care beds,” he said.