A long-awaited report into the $223m Wellcamp quarantine facility has questioned whether its construction was necessary as Queensland and other states moved towards relaxing restrictions.
The 1,000-bed facility near Toowoomba hosted 730 people during the Covid-19 pandemic, amounting to a cost to taxpayers of more than $300,000 per patient.
The state government entered into the contract with the Wagner family in September 2021 – less than two months before a national review recommended states and territories should begin stepping down quarantine requirements.
In a report published on Friday, the state’s auditor general, Brendan Worrall, said while the procurement process was reasonable, other information should have been fully considered by the state government.
This included Queensland’s progress towards vaccination targets, agreed relaxation of quarantine requirements under the national plan and “effective” alternatives such as hotel quarantine, the report said.
Queensland received the proposal for the facility in January 2021, and later requested the federal government split the cost, however that was denied. Instead, the Morrison government announced it would build a second facility at Pinkenba, near Brisbane airport. But with an independent consultant identifying risks with the Brisbane site, the state in August signed a contract to help build Wellcamp on the Wagners’ land, which the family would own and lease back to government.
Wellcamp opened in early February 2022 and closed six months later, with the state also advising the federal government the Pinkenba site was no longer required.
Asked at a press conference on Friday about whether she regrets building Wellcamp, the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, defended her government’s record during the pandemic.
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” she said. “We didn’t know what was going to happen with this pandemic. It could have gotten worse … all we were trying to do is keep people safe.”
The premier said the facility had been built to “future proof” Queensland and accused the federal government of failing to step in and do their job.
“When you’re a leader, you need to make decisions at that particular point in time based on the health advice, and that is what the government did,” she said.
The auditor general found the procurement process undertaken by the state was reasonable but said the government could have been more forthcoming with the costs.
Until last July, the government had declined to outline the full cost of Wellcamp, citing commercial in-confidence arrangements.
Despite the confidentiality provisions in the agreements, the government should have considered disclosing Wellcamp’s total value once the agreements were signed, the report said.
It made three recommendations to improve the disclosure of information. These included expanding the definition of reportable contracts, updating the use and disclosure of confidentiality provisions in government contracts and for the department of premier to develop guidance for ministers answering questions in parliament when confidentiality provisions are in place.
Palaszczuk confirmed the department had rejected the recommendation to develop guidance for ministers, saying they would do so on a “case by case basis”.
“What we can do is be a bit more transparent about those contracts,” she said. “But the states also need to keep their competitive advantage … it’s up to the individual minister to look at those projects.”
Deputy leader of the opposition, Jarrod Bleijie said the Wellcamp quarantine facility was a “political stunt” and a “get-square with the federal government”.
“It’s clear they didn’t listen, and they didn’t care about wasting taxpayers’ money on a political hatchet job,” he said in a statement on Friday.
“$223m of taxpayer money was spent on a white elephant that was barely used and didn’t even meet requirements.”
