More vaccines could be manufactured in Australia under a special fund Labor would set up to boost the domestic medical technology industry.

More vaccines could be manufactured in Australia under a special fund Labor would set up to boost the domestic medical technology industry.

Its money,along with private investments,would be used to boost domestic manufacturing capacity of things like vaccines,rapid antigen tests,and medicines.

The fund’s board would also look at how government purchasing strategies can be used to encourage a local industry.

Albanese said the reduced capacity to make these things in Australia was brought to the fore during the height of the pandemic,especially when the country was competing internationally to secure supplies of vaccines and tests.

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“A country that takes its pandemic preparedness seriously would have ensured that we made more rapid tests and vaccines here,” he said.

Labor’s industry spokesman Ed Husic said local businesses were ready to make these essential supplies but they needed a government to back them.

“We once had a proud heritage of medical manufacture in this country that has been undermined by a Coalition government that often refuses to work with or back local firms,” he said.

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“There was no stronger proof of this when it became easier to buy an Australian-made rapid test in the US and parts of Europe than it was in the very country they’re made.”

Medical technology is one of the priority areas for grants under the government’s $1.3 billion modern manufacturing initiative.

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Labor announced its national reconstruction fund at its party conference in March last year,saying it would be established with a remit to partner with the private sector and build Australia’s sovereign capacity.

Shortly after that,Labor said the fund’s first task would be to work with pharmaceutical companies to establish mRNA vaccine manufacturing onshore. This year,the government signed contracts with Moderna to set up an mRNA facility in Melbourne.

Labor has also promised to use the overarching pool of money for a $1 billion value-adding resources fund to process raw minerals in Australia,the $1 billion advanced manufacturing fund announced on Sunday,and to support forestry and Tasmanian businesses.

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