Plus you now need to organise a bunch of repat flights from all corners of the globe direct to this ‘remote place’.
In that case the government should contract these flights to Australian airlines who are familiar with operating into remote CTAFs, rather than mostly use foreign carriers as is done now. This would be a benefit to Australian pilot jobs.
about 12 months to get suitable accomodation available
The Chinese managed to build a temporary hospital within 10 days. Why can't we erect temporary accommodation within a similar time frame, even in a more remote location? Or use existing mine accommodation as is being proposed in Queensland? Doesn't have to be a 5 star hotel, tented accommodation could probably suffice for most returnees.
My main point is the current system of storing returned travelers in CBD hotels is not working. So unless we want this to be happening for most of the year we're going to have to think of a solution. Some more concrete form of quarantine will have to be implemented, otherwise these events will keep occurring. One simple thing could be the paying of quarantine staff a decent salary so they don't need a second job and a housing allowance so they can rent a place alone for the duration of their contract. There's not going to be a solution to this that doesn't involve spending money.