The Queensland Government will not renew the lease of the Wellcamp quarantine facility on the Darling Downs when it expires next month.
A spokesperson for Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the facility's location meant "that other uses … are not straightforward".
"The facility remains available until the end of the current lease and following that, its future use will be determined by Wagner Corporation."
The 1000-bed facility opened in early 2022 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and cost taxpayers more than $220 million in set-up and running costs.
It was built on privately-owned land at Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, operated by the Wagner family.
Only about 730 people stayed at the facility when it was a designated quarantine site.
Wagner Corporation chairman John Wagner said the quarantine facility would now be used to house agriculture sector workers.
"We're dealing with a number of [agricultural] operators who are desperate for accommodation for … workers," Mr Wagner said.
"Some of these abattoirs just can't find accommodation for their workers that they bring into the country.
"So, it just makes a lot of sense for them to be able to use this facility. It's got everything there. It's a beautiful facility. We think it's ideal for that."
Mr Wagner said the deal with the state government was for a 12-month lease, with options to renew "if they choose to".
"We never expected them to renew the lease," he said.
"We intend to leave [the facility] there long-term. We always have — that hasn't changed."
Mr Wagner said the facility would also be useful if plans for a $175-million entertainment and motorsport precinct at Wellcamp Airport got off the ground.
"It that gets up, we'll need a lot more accommodation than what's there," he said.
'We did what we needed to do'
On Tuesday, Health Minister Yvette D'Ath defended the government's decision to build the quarantine facility.
"Wellcamp is a really important facility that we needed to commit to," she said.
"The Commonwealth at the time did nothing to help us with quarantining people who were at risk of having COVID, which would have meant Queenslanders would have been exposed to COVID prior to our community getting vaccinated.
"We did what we needed to do."
Ms D'Ath said the government continued to use the facility after it was no longer operating as a quarantine site.
"Other people have used the facility, not just [for] COVID," she said.
"It was offered to Ukrainian migrants coming in, flood victims over the border when those awful floods happened last year.
"Most recently, it's been considered as far as cyclones and needing to evacuate people."
'It was about politics, not people'
Queensland Opposition leader David Crisafulli said the facility was a "$220-million exercise in political muscle-flexing".
He accused the state government of using the facility as a political wedge against the former federal Coalition government.
"The only future it was about was trying to change the government in Canberra at a future election," he said.
"From the very get go Wellcamp was about politics, not about people.
"At a time when cost of living has never been more on people's minds, that will hurt today — to know the keys will be handed back and it was barely used.
"It was never about future-proofing, as we never owned the asset."
