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Labor blows major contract

Reading a Newspaper

Monday 8 August 2022

A major Victorian manufacturing project promised by Daniel Andrews and Labor which was supposed to deliver more than 50 million Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) per year has today collapsed.

The project has been shrouded in secrecy from the beginning, with the Andrews Labor Government refusing to disclose how much of taxpayers’ money had been provided to Lumos Diagnostics-Planet Innovation.

In February this year, Labor promised it would “secure sovereign RAT manufacturing capability”, announcing this facility would produce 1 million RATs per month from April 2022, and volume production of 50 million RATS annually from October 2022, in just 2 months’ time.

Yet, it appears not a single RAT has been produced and the government has not only failed in its due diligence but also failing to reveal how much taxpayers’ money has been sunk so far into this project.

Shadow Minister for Manufacturing, Bridget Vallence, said Labor must explain how it will now secure sufficient supply of testing kits for Victorian families in the future.

“This demonstrates yet another failure in the government’s pandemic response, and shows it has no clue when it comes to rebuilding Victoria’s sovereign manufacturing capability.

“Daniel Andrews has serious questions to answer about how his headline announcement of a major RAT manufacturing facility has collapsed, and how much taxpayers’ money this has cost.”

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