Today it has emerged that the Garran Surge Centre was never fit for purpose, meaning that throughout the pandemic it was not used as intended, as a substitute COVID emergency ward.

Reviews of the Garran Surge Centre found issues with fire safety, appropriate distancing of beds, ventilation and that in some cases the Centre did not meet national health standards.

Shadow Health Minister, Leanne Castley said, “Health Minister, Rachel Stephen-Smith must come clean on what she knew about deficiencies at the Centre, when she knew about them, and why she didn’t rectify them.”

An October 2021 review recommended Canberra Health Services spend $60,000 to $75,000 on improvements, including upgrading exhaust and air filtration, to make the Centre viable as a COVID ward.

CHS did not make these changes resulting in the facility only being used for testing and triage.

"The Minister should have been aware of these deficiencies and made the recommended upgrades prior to Omicron and the winter 2022 Covid spike," Ms Castley said.

“This shows a blatant disregard for patient and staff welfare.

“While the Garran Surge Centre stayed unfit for purpose, transmission was occurring in Canberra hospitals, with 19 known cases in November 2022 alone.”

Ms Castley said there was also the question of whether the Minister was upfront with Canberrans.

“In July 2022 I questioned why this 50-bed facility was not being used as a pop-up emergency facility - the purpose the Chief Minister and Health Minister announced in April 2020.

“Health officials said this was due to a lack of available staff.

“So, the ACT Labor-Greens government spent $14 million on a facility that was actually unsuitable for treating COVID patients, but Canberrans were told it was not being used because of staff shortages.

“It is completely unacceptable this Government has been so non-transparent during a public health emergency,” Ms Castley concluded.