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AAP
AAP
Politics
Nick Gibbs

Queensland quarantine facility to close

Deputy Premier Steven Miles says Queensland's Wellcamp facility will stop taking guests from Monday. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Queensland taxpayers have forked out more than $200 million for the state's Wellcamp quarantine facility, which will be mothballed within days.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles has revealed the total capital and leasing costs for the complex near Toowoomba, which the Wagner Group now owns, will total $198.5 million.

Another $9 million has been spent on catering, cleaning and security services.

Mr Miles said the facility will stop accepting guests from Monday but remain available should the state's pandemic response change.

"There is no longer a public health requirement for dedicated, government-provided quarantine and isolation facilities," he told a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday.

"I understand this is consistent with the health advice provided in other jurisdictions."

Mr Miles said other uses for the site will be considered during the lease period, which runs until April.

Some 730 guests have stayed at Wellcamp since it opened in February.

"It supported individuals with isolation accommodation in a range of circumstances, particularly those most vulnerable in the community," Mr Miles said.

"This includes guests who have tested positive to COVID-19 but do not have a suitable place to safely isolate such as homeless persons, refugees and victims of domestic violence."

He said it was easy to forget how uncertain the future was at the beginning of the pandemic and he was proud of the government's response.

"Most people understand, faced with what we were faced with, that we couldn't have made any other choice," the deputy premier said.

The cost of Wellcamp equates to about $325,000 per person who used the facility, the state opposition said.

"The state government could've bought a one-bedroom unit for each guest," Liberal National leader David Crisafulli said.

"This was a trigger-happy decision to try and wedge the former federal government and this waste could've funded nearly 2500 nurses in the middle of a health crisis."

Until Wednesday, the government had consistently declined to outline the full cost of Wellcamp, citing commercial in-confidence arrangements.

On Tuesday, acting Auditor-General Karen Johnson said the project was being investigated following an opposition request in April.

She said the probe was looking at the procurement and tender process, and why the government was deeming the deal as "commercial in-confidence".

"Commercial in-confidence is generally very important in the negotiation stage, not so much after the contract has been settled," Ms Johnson told an estimates hearing.

Mr Miles said the state has also told the federal government a second quarantine facility they are jointly building at Pinkenba, near Brisbane Airport, is no longer required.

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