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Inside the COVID-era centre where hantavirus cruise passengers are being sent

It cost Australian taxpayers $400 million to build at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, can house up to 500 people at a time and has scarcely been used in the four years since it was completed.

Considered one of the greatest white elephant projects in Western Australian history, the Bullsbrook Centre for National Resilience on the outskirts of Perth will finally be used for its intended purpose: quarantining returning Australians who may have been exposed to a deadly virus.

Six passengers who were on board a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship in the Pacific are currently making the long journey back to Australia under strict health protocols.

READ MORE: Aussies evacuated from hantavirus ship touch down in the Netherlands

Seven cases of hantavirus linked to the MV Hondius have been confirmed, with two others suspected.

Three people have died.

Four Australian citizens, one permanent resident and one New Zealander who were among the last to make it off the cruise liner landed in the Netherlands in the early hours of this morning.

They are expected to board a flight bound for the RAAF Base Pearce near Perth in the next 48 hours.

From there, they will be taken directly to the Bullsbrook Centre for National Resilience, where they will remain in quarantine for at least three weeks.

Here's a look inside the shuttered facility, and just what the stranded cruisers can expect during their stay.

A COVD-era quarantine project

The Bullsbrook centre was commissioned by the federal government in mid-2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was one of three such facilities designed to accommodate returning Australians, with a similar 500-bed centre built in Pinkenba, Brisbane, and a larger 1000-bed centre in Mickleham, Melbourne.

READ MORE: Evacuated American cruise ship passenger tests positive to hantavirus

But by the time the 500-bed Bullsbrook facility was completed and handed over to the WA Government in October 2022, mandatory quarantining of COVID-19-exposed travellers had already been abolished.

Despite this, then-premier Mark McGowan remained adamant that the centre would be put to use in some capacity.

It did briefly house bushfire evacuees in 2023 but has lain dormant since and was handed back to the federal government's Department of Finance.

'State-of-the-art' accommodation lying dormant

Heralded by the federal government at the time as "state-of-the-art" accommodation, the facility was built with quarantine requirements in mind.

The neat rows of terraced apartments all feature separate open-air entrances and staircases to allow for safe movement and food deliveries without the risk of cross-contamination.

The apartments are fitted with customised ventilation systems to prevent the spread of infection and feature easy-to-disinfect surfaces and furnishings.

Built with long-term residence in mind, the apartments all come with their own bathrooms and kitchenettes.

However, the centre is set up to provide centralised food and laundry services.

There's also room for health services on site.

Despite a critical shortage of low-income housing in Perth, both state and federal governments have struggled to re-purpose the accommodation.

In early 2023, there was a proposal for it to be used as accommodation for regional and international students struggling to find housing in Perth's tight rental market.

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However, the centre was deemed unsuitable due to the lack of surrounding infrastructure and distance from the University of WA – around 50 kilometres.

Later that same year, there was speculation that the Department of Defence might take over the site, but in the end it fell into the hands of the finance department.

There have been repeated calls for the centre to be used to help house Perth's homeless, but these have also failed, seemingly due to similar misgivings about the lack of surrounding infrastructure.

The six cruise ship passengers are expected to remain at the centre under newly updated health orders for at least three weeks, although that period may be extended.

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