Queensland's controversial Wellcamp quarantine facility is set to welcome its first "guests".
Key points:
- After a false start, the Wellcamp facility will receive its first guests tomorrow
- Up to 10 unvaccinated international travellers will be taken there after flying in to Brisbane
- About 500 beds are ready now with another 500 to roll out by April
A small group of unvaccinated international travellers will be taken by bus to the site, just outside Toowoomba, from Brisbane.
Queensland Quarantine Taskforce Commissioner Joanne Greenfield said the first intake would probably be fewer than 10 people to ensure "controlled entry" and the future "flow" would depend on flight schedules.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the travellers were today in hotel quarantine in Brisbane after flying in from New Zealand and would be transferred to Wellcamp tomorrow.
"We will gradually expand the number of cabins in use [at Wellcamp]," he said.
"You'll recall all the debates about why it was important to phase out hotel quarantine and have a dedicated facility and I'm certainly pleased to have it now."
The facility was originally intended to take its first group of travellers, international students, before Christmas but hit delays that owner, Toowoomba businessman John Wagner, said were due to wet weather.
Ms Greenfield said the first arrivals were likely to be a mixture of tourists, workers and students.
"We work on the [flight] manifest over today and tomorrow and then we confirm who comes down," she said.
Five hundred beds in the facility are ready for guests, with another 500 expected to be ready by early April.
State going it alone
The project was initially proposed by Mr Wagner last year but drew criticism from local community leaders.
Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio said he only learned the project had been commissioned from a media conference he wasn't invited to.
The federal government deemed it unviable, instead approving a joint-run 1,000-bed facility at Pinkenba, near Brisbane Airport.
But the Queensland government pushed ahead, signing a one-year lease at the Wellcamp site with options to extend for up to three years.
Mr Wagner said while the Christmas deadline may have been missed, stage two was on track to finish on time.
"I'm not disappointed [it took longer]," he said.
"There's a lot involved in these things."
He said the government would handle all decisions about arrivals.
"We're just the landlords. We look after the grounds and maintenance," he said.
"We've handed it completely over."
The state government has refused to reveal how much the project has cost taxpayers, citing commercial-in-confidence arrangements.
No quarantine for vaccinated travellers
Ms Greenfield said, given the scale of the operation, the project progressed quickly once commissioned.
"I've been involved since March 2020 and since that time we've had the pleasure of providing quarantine accommodation to over 170,000 people," she said.
"I think that everyone that's worked with us, and the public, have seen that as a really successful frontline defence for Queensland.
"Our aim is to continue ... providing that facility that prevents infection spreading, but also supports those people who might not be able to isolate at home."
The ABC has contacted the state government for more details.
There are no restrictions on fully vaccinated international travellers entering Queensland and they are not required to quarantine, although they must take a rapid antigen test within 24 hours of arriving.
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