‘FULL HOTEL QUARANTINE LED TO THIS’

THE State Government has claimed their two-week shutdown of new arrivals into the state wouldn’t have happened if a regional quarantine hub was up and running.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced a deal had been struck between the government and John Wagner and the Wagner Corporation to build a quarantine hub at Wellcamp Airport.

Ms Palaszczuk said regional quarantine was necessary to combat the ongoing Covid-19 threat.

“We all know our hotels weren’t built to deal with the Delta strain of this virus,” she said.

“In fact, what’s happening in NSW and Victoria is a direct result of the Delta strain coming in and breaching hotel quarantine so we need regional quarantine facilities.

“I have been advocating for this for a long, long time it’s a nobrainer. We don’t need people in hotels, we need them in regional facilities.”

Ms Palaszczuk said regional facilities were required right across Australia.

“Our hotels weren’t designed to be the last line of defence to deal with a global pandemic,” she said.

“If we want to open our country up, open our states up then regional facilities are part of that answer. We could have had this built by now we could have avoided our decision to stop interstate arrivals.”