Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison ruled out the government funding of free rapid coronavirus tests on Monday. Morrison stated that the federal government cannot continue to spend the same amount of money on stopping the spread of Covid-19 as it did in 2020 and 2021.
He told Seven Network television, "We've invested hundreds of billions of dollars to get Australia through this catastrophe." "However, we've reached a point in the pandemic where you can't just make everything free because if someone says they want to make something free, someone will always pay for it, and it will be you." It comes as the government faces mounting pressure to subsidise rapid antigen tests for Australians as the number of infections rises across the country.
Price gouging on rapid antigen tests has been widely reported due to supply shortages, and wait times for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results have blown out to up to 72 hours. On Monday, Opposition Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese stepped up his criticism of the government's reaction to Omicron outbreaks, stating that cases were going undetected.
"With months to prepare for a pandemic that has been going on for two years, it is unbelievable that the government has urged people not to get tested, but to test themselves with a fast antigen test that isn't available and isn't affordable," he said.
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