Quarantine hub deal reached, but Jandakot site not final

The federal government is confident it will begin construction on WA’s 1,000 bed, purpose-built quarantine facility as early as October, despite not having finalised commercial negotiations with leaseholders of Jandakot Airport.

Premier Mark McGowan and Prime Minister Scott Morrison signed a Memorandum of Understanding this morning, under which the federal government will fund the construction of the facility, while the state government will oversee its operation and cover the associated costs, including the workforce and security.

Federal Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said the federal government hoped to begin construction in October and have at least 500 beds in place by the end of March 2022 to assist in the safe management of international arrivals into WA.

The design of the facility, which is expected to cost about $300 million to build, will be modelled on the one currently being built in Melbourne, with Mr Birmingham likening it to modular mining camp units.

When quizzed about how the project would be brought to fruition in the midst of a major labour shortage, Mr Birmingham told reporters the federal government planned to utilise multiple businesses to build the modular units at the same time.

He said the agreement was another step in building COVID-19 resilience capabilities, but could also be used to respond to other emergency health situations, natural disasters and getting people out of Afghanistan and housing them safely for their initial arrival in Australia. 

In an interview with 6PR this morning, Mr Birmingham said the facility would likely cost a few hundred million dollars to build, with annual operating costs likely run into the millions of dollars if it were running at full capacity.

Late last month, the federal government confirmed it had chosen a 40-hectare site at Jandakot for the 1,000 bed facility, ending a month-long land assessment process which spanned multiple sites at both Perth and Jandakot Airports.

But this morning, Mr Birmingham said the location was “not definite”, with scoping work and commercial negotiations yet to be finalised.

Jandakot was chosen based on the ability to manage noise and environmental issues and the speed with which it could get the approvals necessary to build the facility at both of the sites.

Ultimately, it was decided that Perth Airport was too busy and that noise could be more effectively managed at Jandakot than at Perth.

It was also decided that there would be fewer environmental and land management issues to overcome at Jandakot.

Australia is now on track to have four dedicated quarantine and emergency response facilities, with one in the Northern Territory, Victoria, Queensland and WA.