 However, rather than focusing on monetary savings, Cilento's public argument for moving non-European Hansen's disease patients from Peel Island to a segregated lazaret on Fantome Island was that a majority of the patients in question were from North Queensland, and had been moved away from their relatives to a colder climate.He stated that Ned Hanlon, the Minister of Health, had decided to move them to a suitable spot closer to their "tribal associations".The site for the lazaret and laboratory already possessed a reticulated water supply, and the grass huts of the chronic STI cases could provide accommodation for 60 people (the previous occupants were later moved to Wallaby Point on Palm Island).