The Queensland government's Wellcamp quarantine facility has officially been opened outside of Toowoomba as the state closes its COVID-19 hotel quarantine scheme and prepares for more international arrivals.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the hotel quarantine program would come to an end today, with the last person expected to check out at about 3pm.
The 500-bed facility is set to quarantine unvaccinated travellers, international students, seasonal workers and mariners, with another 500 beds expected to be ready by early April.
Speaking from the Wellcamp site this morning, Ms Palaszczuk said the "state-of-the-art" facility would have a "whole range of uses".
"We talked about this in August, construction started in October and today, it is operational," she said.
The facility welcomed its first small group of unvaccinated international travellers earlier this month who were taken by bus to the site.
Government insists 'ongoing need' for quarantine facility
Since then, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the site had taken in nearly 60 guests over the last fortnight.
The hub is currently housing 21 people — 17 unvaccinated international travellers, one unvaccinated mariner and three people isolating with COVID who did not have appropriate accommodation of their own.
Mr Miles said the current guests were a mixture of unvaccinated travellers and mariners, and there would be an "ongoing need" for isolation accommodation.
He said while the facility has a total capacity of 1,000 beds, the number of guests would "vary" at different times.
"I don't think it's possible to give a figure of [total guests]," he said.
He said 20 hotels were involved in the quarantine program at the peak of the pandemic but that figure was now down to three.
"We anticipate an ongoing number of arrivals particularly from countries where their vaccines aren't recognised by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and therefore will be required to quarantine," Mr Miles said.
"As well as farmers, refugees from other countries who haven't been able to access vaccinations."
Ms Palaszczuk said at the height of the pandemic, 127,772 people were in hotel quarantine in Queensland and of those 77,000 were international arrivals.
She said the peak saw 5,014 people in quarantine on a single day across 22 hotels.
Second quarantine facility to open at Pinkenba
Mr Miles said the state's second quarantine facility, located at Pinkenba near Brisbane Airport, was expected to be operational by April.
Questioned about whether the state needed two quarantine hubs amid the decline of the Omicron wave, Ms Palaszczuk insisted the Wellcamp site would be needed in the future.
"We don't know what outbreaks are going to happen next and where in the world. There may be countries that may be deemed [high risk] that will have to quarantine," Ms Palaszczuk said.
In August 2021, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said he did not want to "bus people out there" and instead wanted planes to land at the nearby Wellcamp Airport.
"Provided the Commonwealth doesn't try and stand in our way, that's exactly what we'll do, we'll land them straight at that airport," he said.
But a spokesperson for Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Transport Minister Barnaby Joyce said it may be some time before planes can land at the Wellcamp Airport.
"Airlines are responsible for choosing the locations they wish to fly to, not the Queensland Labor government," the spokesperson said.
Government refuses to release costings of quarantine site
Ms Palaszczuk has repeatedly refused to disclose how much the quarantine facility has cost taxpayers, saying the details were "commercial in confidence".
But a government source has told the ABC taxpayers have spent $48.8 million on capital costs for the site — a figure that excludes the cost to lease the site and ongoing operational costs.
"What I will say is my understanding is the total amount to build this facility is less than any other facility in Australia," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"I don't know what's around the corner, but you know what, I know that I'm future-proofing this state for whatever is thrown our way."
The Commonwealth is yet to finalise the total cost of the Pinkenba facility but has committed to doing so when the project nears completion.
However, last week it revealed an estimated $1.3 billion had been allocated to build the Commonwealth's three Centres for National Resilience (CNRs), which includes Pinkenba.
The total expected cost of its Melbourne facility was approximately $580 million.
In a statement, Federal Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said the Commonwealth had "regularly published" the costs of its quarantine facilities.
"The Queensland government would know that if they had been paying attention," he said.
Federal member for Groom which includes the Toowoomba region, Garth Hamilton called on the government to reveal the ongoing cost of the site.
"We have a hospital that is currently operating at about 120 per cent capacity, so it's an ageing hospital that absolutely is in desperate need of an upgrade," he said.
"We don't have train passenger connection to Toowoomba, these are the things that the people of Toowoomba are looking to the state government to deliver.
"Instead we've got a 500 person, soon to be a 1,000 person facility, currently occupied by 38 people, that in very short order will return to private ownership," he said.
But the state's quarantine commissioner, Joanne Greenfield said the facility had so far been well received by guests.
"We've had positive feedback from guests, they like the rooms, they like the fresh air," Ms Greenfield said.
