A rapid antigen test costs just $15 at the shops, yet taxpayers are now paying $85 for PCR tests at private companies and $42.50 for state-run tests.
Having spent hundreds of billions to prop up businesses and keep people employed and billions more on vaccines and testing, Scott Morrison’s sudden penny-pinching over relatively cheapFirst up, the maths doesn’t make sense. In the Prime Minister’s own words, a rapid antigen test costs just $15 at the shops.
Incidentally, those free “tourist tests” were blamed in large part for the collapse of the PCR system leading into Christmas. But with the buying power and lack of a profit motive from the federal government, the cost would be even lower than the PM’s $15 benchmark. Supplying tests for free would be a stepping stone as the people get used to the virus circulating in the community.
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