McGowan flags new use for $200m facility

The new 500-bed Covid quarantine facility on Perth’s northern outskirts could be used to temporarily house skilled migrants arriving to work in Western Australia.

The Commonwealth-funded $200 million Bullsbrook “Centre for National Resilience” quarantine facility was built to safely house returned travellers and prevent the spread of Covid into Australia.

But now with quarantine no longer a requirement for interstate or international travel, the state government has considered how the building could be used.

The aim was for it to have other uses in future post-pandemic, including in natural disasters or health crises.

Premier Mark McGowan on Sunday suggested the facility could be used to temporarily host skilled workers coming in from overseas for jobs.

“What we will do is look for a purpose and in particular, skilled labour coming in that might need somewhere to stay,” he told reporters.

“(It’s) one of the things we are looking at for that facility so that people can arrive, have someone to stay for four or six weeks, whatever it might be, settle in while they get somewhere to stay, and therefore have the opportunity to work in Western Australia.”

Mr McGowan said attracting people to the state and offering them a place to stay would help plug labour shortages.

“We all know one of the biggest problems we face is not enough people for the jobs that are out there,” he added.

“We’re currently going through a process to work out how that might happen and whether it’s actually feasible or not, considering the location of the centre. If we reach an outcome which is positive, that’s what we’ll do with it.”

The quarantine facility has been built and is owned by the Commonwealth.

Mr McGowan said the state government had agreed to operate the quarantine facility for one year.

The suggestion to use the facility to temporarily house skilled labour comes as the Premier returns fresh from a mission to Italy, the UK, Ireland and Qatar to promote WA as a safe place to visit, work, study and invest in now borders have reopened.

“We’re doing this to make sure that we continue to indicate to the world that we’re open for business, people can travel here, people can invest here safely,” he said.

“We’ve invested nearly $200 million in new flights, tourism marketing campaigns, campaigns to attract skills and other workers from overseas and also to ensure we promote our state to the world for the purchase of our bonds, which is a very important role that the Treasurer has to perform and each year, the Treasurer does that, both around Australia and around the world.”

Mr McGowan said Western Australia was the only one in Australia to boast a Triple-A credit rating, giving investors confidence to pour money in the state.

While airline Qantas had agreed to run their own flights again in 2023, Qatar Airways was also keen to begin extra services into WA, a move the state is supporting to the federal government, he said.

WA Deputy Premier Roger Cook will also tour India to promote the state, starting Monday.