An audit of the Government’s negotiations to establish the Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre (QRAC), also known as Wellcamp, found that the procurement process undertaken was reasonable.
However, future quarantine needs should have been more fully considered before the project went ahead.
Wellcamp operated under a lease to the Queensland Government from 4 February 2022. It was moved to care and maintenance on 1 August 2022 and was returned to the owner on 29 April 2023 when the lease expired.
“We considered the information available at that time and acknowledge the difficult circumstances and uncertainty associated with a global pandemic,” the auditors said.
“The Queensland Government considered available information in its decision-making processes, including risk assessments, valuations, and options.”
The audit noted that in August 2021, National Cabinet agreed to the National Plan to transition Australia’s national COVID-19 response.
The National Plan provided for relaxation of quarantine requirements and removal of travel restrictions under four phases, aligned with outcomes from vaccination programs.
“At the time of entering the contract, Queensland was progressing toward the vaccination rate targets included in the National Plan and the near-term relaxation of quarantine requirements,” the audit said.
“While there was still significant uncertainty on the continuing impact of the pandemic at this time, alternates such as home and hotel quarantine were available.”
It said this should have been more fully considered at the time of entering the contract in September 2021 to better ensure value for money for taxpayers.
Commenting on the audit, Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk said the decision to proceed with Wellcamp was taken in August 2021, the day after Queensland’s hotel quarantine facilities reached their capacity of 5,114 people.
“Wellcamp was in line with recommendations of Queensland’s Chief Health Officer who had been investigating quarantine facilities away from heavily-populated areas since August 2020,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“Wellcamp offered an ideal solution — away from populated areas but close to hospitals with its own airport.”
She said no one could take away Queensland’s world-leading response to the pandemic “that enabled us to continue with life as close to normal as possible and avoided the horrendous deaths suffered in other jurisdictions”.
