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State government abandons ‘White Elephant’ Covid quarantine facility that housed 730 people and cost taxpayers more than $220 million
- The Queensland government will not renew the lease of the Wellcamp base
- Covid quarantine facility cost taxpayers $220 million
- It has housed 730 people since it opened in February of last year.
The Queensland government has decided not to renew the lease on the taxpayer-funded Wellcamp Covid quarantine facility when it expires next month.
The 1,000-bed facility located near Toowoomba west of Brisbane opened in February 2022 to quarantine international arrivals entering the country.
It only housed 730 people at the time and cost taxpayers more than $220 million in construction and operating costs.
For the first few months after it opened, it hosted an average of 30 guests per week.
A spokesman for Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles confirmed the state government would abandon the base when the contract expires next month.
“The facility will remain available until the end of the current lease and after that, Wagner Corporation will determine its future use,” the spokesperson told ABC.
Palaszczuk government to abandon Wellcamp Covid quarantine facility (pictured) that cost taxpayers $220 million
They added that due to the center’s location, its ‘other uses’ in the future were not ‘easy’.
The facility was built by the family-owned Wagner Corporation on private land also owned by the Wagner family.
The Palaszczuk government gave the Wagner Corporation $48.8 million to build the facility.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath defended the Palaszczuk government’s decision to build the center at a press conference on Tuesday.
“Wellcamp is a really important facility that we needed to commit to,” he explained.
Ms D’Ath suggested that the state was forced to build the base due to a lack of support from the Morrison government when it came to quarantining foreign arrivals during the height of the pandemic.
“The Commonwealth at the time did nothing to help us quarantine people who were at risk of covid, which would have meant Queenslanders would have been exposed to covid before our community got vaccinated,” he said. .
We did what we had to do.
The Palaszczuk government used the center to house foreign arrivals during the height of the pandemic. The government awarded the Wagner Corporation $48.8 million to build the facility (Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pictured)
The 1,000-bed facility has housed 730 people since it began operations in February of last year. On average, about 30 people stayed at the base per week shortly after it opened.
Wagner Corporation President John Wagner said the base would be used to house farm workers after the lease with the state government ends.
“We are dealing with a number of (agricultural) operators who are desperate to find accommodation for … workers,” he said.
“Some of these slaughterhouses just can’t find housing for the workers they bring into the country.”
Wagner said he did not expect the state government to renew the 12-month lease once it expired.
He added that the corporation intends to leave the facility where it is for the “long term.”
Since the lifting of Covid restrictions, the base has been used to temporarily house flood victims and Ukrainian refugees.