Toowoomba community leaders say they were kept in the dark about the Queensland government's expedited construction of a regional quarantine facility at Toowoomba.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the project for a 1,000-bed quarantine facility on vacant land near Wellcamp Airport today, with earth movers already working in the background.
Toowoomba Regional Council mayor Paul Antonio knew nothing of the plan and learned of it from a press conference he was not invited to.
Construction is underway, with 500 beds available by the end of the year and a total capacity of 1,000 by March.
No community consultation
The announced quarantine facility at the Wellcamp Business Park comes a day after the Queensland government paused arrivals from interstate COVID-19 hotspots because of pressure on the hotel quarantine system.
"The best way to keep you safe, and keep Delta out of Queensland, is to build a regional quarantine facility," Ms Palaszczuk said.
The proposal has repeatedly been rejected by the federal government since it was first floated in January by building firm Wagners as a solution to bring home more stranded expatriates.
The newly struck deal between the state government and Wagners is commercial-in-confidence.
Federal Member for Groom Garth Hamilton said the Commonwealth's perspective on a quarantine facility at Wellcamp had not changed.
"From the Prime Minister down to myself, the state members, and the mayor, no one has been consulted, so who knows what to make of this," he said.
The facility is expected to be partially built by the end of the year, offering 500 beds.
Mr Hamilton said the effort was futile given projections of 80 per cent vaccination of Queenslanders by the end of October.
"If this facility is to be built in six weeks, that will leave only two weeks overlap between the need for domestic quarantine and this facility being operational," he said.
Mr Antonio said he was dismayed the council and community had not been consulted before the plan was set in motion.
"Most people in Toowoomba thought this matter had been dealt with and to come out in this way, and for me to find out on the media rather than any other way was certainly quite a shock," he said.
Concerns of an outbreak
There is angst in the local community about the risk of a leak from the facility and the capacity of the local healthcare system to deal with it.
"Our hospitals are currently working at over 120 per cent capacity, we've got waiting lists," he said.
"We're desperate for a new hospital, so at this point at time, let's get some clarity around what impact this could have on already over-capacity hospitals in town."
Mr Antonio wrote to the Premier and Prime Minister in February, raising questions about community safety if the facility was built.
He said those questions were yet to be answered.
"We need to know answers about safety, we need to know how they're going to deal with the staff and how they're going to quarantine those people and make sure they don't spread [COVID-19] if there is an outbreak at the facility," Mr Antonio said.
The facility near Toowoomba's Wellcamp Airport will be modelled on the Northern Territory's Howard Springs quarantine facility, which has not had any COVID-19 leaks so far.
The local business community has tentatively welcomed the news, saying it could be a welcome economic boost.
Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise chief executive Ali Davenport said the community needed to make the most of it.
''There could be really good economic benefits for the region in terms of new jobs, and in terms of promoting the region to international travellers," she said.
