The Queensland Government has welcomed the Auditor-General’s report into the Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre known as Wellcamp.
The report finds:
- The procurement process undertaken was reasonable
- At the time, the Quality Surveyor advised that the capital costs represent value for money
- and acknowledges ‘the circumstances and uncertainty associated with a global pandemic’
The decision to proceed with Wellcamp was taken in August 2021 the day after Queensland’s hotel quarantine facilities reached their capacity of 5,114 people in 22 hotels necessitating a pause in all interstate arrivals.
Wellcamp was in line with recommendations of Queensland’s Chief Health Officer who had been investigating quarantine facilities away from heavy populated areas since August 2020.
These included ‘Homeground’ at Calliope and Shoalwater Bay Defence Training facility near Rockhampton. Neither was considered feasible.
Wellcamp offered an ideal solution – away from populated areas but close to hospitals with its own airport.
The Halton National Review of Quarantine Arrangements said the Federal Government should consider a national facility for quarantine.
Queensland’s decision to ‘go it alone’ came after nine months of failed negotiations with the Federal Government which refused to live up to its constitutional responsibility to provide quarantine facilities.
Significantly, the CHO did not recommend home quarantine. There had been several outbreaks from hotel quarantine and the State was facing the Delta wave of Covid-19.
Quotes attributable to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk:
“Everything I did during the pandemic was to keep Queensland safe.
“More than 730 people used Wellcamp.
“That compares with the facility the Morrison Government eventually built at Pinkenba that cost double the price, took twice as long and housed no-one and yet escapes any scrutiny or public discussion.
“Had the then federal government worked with us instead of against us, we would have built Wellcamp sooner and avoided a lot of heartache and distress for Queensland families.
“No-one can take away Queensland’s world-leading response to this pandemic that enabled us to continue with life as close to normal as possible and vaccinate the majority of our population before the virus arrived.
“We also avoided the horrendous deaths suffered in other jurisdictions.”
