David Kempton (left), pictured with fellow Far North Queensland MPs Bree and Terry James, says while the State Government is committed to reopening the Cape York Biosecurity Centre, he believes “there may be some difficulties” in utilising the former Coen facility. Photo: Facebook (David Kempton MP).
The siting of a re-established biosecurity presence on Cape York remains up in the air as the State Government continues its review into the controversial 2023 scrapping of the previous facility at Coen.
The Liberal National Party made a $50 million commitment ahead of last year’s Queensland election to add muscle to the state’s crippled biosecurity footprint, a promise that included reopening the Cape York Biosecurity Centre.
The Peninsula Development Road (PDR) facility, located 22 kilometres north of Coen, was closed by the former Labor government 18 months ago, despite concerns its absence would create a biosecurity hole and put the state’s northern agricultural sector at risk.
While the Department of Primary Industries and Biosecurity Queensland continue a review into the centre’s closure, Cook MP David Kempton said he was not sure utilising the existing infrastructure would be an option after the site was handed back to Traditional Owners.
“I think it’s a serious issue, and I think it’s becoming more serious all the time,” he said of the threat no Cape York biosecurity presence represented.
“If a review reveals that’s the most appropriate location for that to be done, so be it, but my personal view is that there may be some difficulties around the location in terms of ownership and that sort of thing.
“The effectiveness of that centre had been in decline over a number of years; we are reviewing the decision to close it, and we definitely need a physical barrier for biosecurity on Cape York.”
Mr Kempton’s assessment of the Cape York Biosecurity Centre’s effectiveness has been echoed by Dr Kevin Dunn, who headed Queensland’s biosecurity effort for a decade and was instrumental in the establishment of the Coen facility in 1999.
In October 2024, Dr Dunn told Cape York Weekly he believed a “staffing policy failure” was responsible for the downfall of the centre and the decision to close it.
“It was only intercepting 40 or 44 per cent of the traffic that’s moving south – that’s kind of shake-your-head-at-it type material,” he said at the time.
“That percentage had nothing to do with the strategically valid siting – that had to do with whether or not the switch was turned up to check up to 100 per cent of the traffic; that was a staffing policy failure, not a failure of the facility or its capability.”
Dr Dunn added “[t]he general Coen location, in principle, would again be the place to select in my view, if the former facility cannot be resumed”, adding to questions about just how much the government will be willing to spend to either reacquire it or establish new infrastructure at a yet-to-be-identified site on the PDR.
