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.”
The government is now exploring additional uses for the facility (officially known as the Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre), earmarking ideas such as social housing or the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
Queensland opposition leader David Crisafulli has called it an “extraordinary amount of waste.”
“It has been a multi-million-dollar absolute stitch up for the taxpayer; it was all because of a get-square,” he told Sky News Australia on July 22.
“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.
“[Former Prime Minister] Scott Morrison failed to act and we now have a dedicated Quarantine facility for whatever may happen in the future,” according to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
The federal government actually had a facility ready to go just two months later in April in the Brisbane suburb of Pinkenba—almost adjacent to the city’s airports and cruise terminal.
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.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, one source revealed that the government contributed around $48.8 million to construction costs, despite having no ownership stake in the project and a likelihood that it would only lease the facility for a year.
On July 22, another source revealed to The Australian newspaper that the state government agreed to pay health service provider Aspen Medical $16 million for the provision of services at Wellcamp—around $700,000 per week—without going through any tender process.
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