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The Greens say the government should use unallocated discretionary funds set aside for COVID to begin work on a publicly-owned domestic vaccine manufacturer. If the government fails to act, the Greens plan to move in the Senate to demand action on domestic vaccine production when Parliament resumes.
The Greens call on the Government to ensure that the 2021/22 budget allocates funding for the urgent development of publicly-owned mRNA vaccine manufacturing capability in Australia, and that it immediately initiates this work by drawing on $1 billion from the $10 billion made available in the 2020/21 Advance to the Finance Minister, which was boosted for the specific purpose of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of which remains unallocated.
The Greens say this discretionary budget was conceived to deal with unexpected costs of the pandemic and shoring up vaccine supplies against international uncertainty is a perfect example of a universally beneficial application of the fund.
The Government previously announced $1b in funding to support the domestic manufacture of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The Greens are calling for $1b to be allocated to a publicly-owned manufacturer which has mRNA capacity. The Greens together with scientists have been calling for domestic mRNA manufacturing capacity for several months.
Current expert advice and international experience suggests that it could take 6 months to construct and commence mRNA production domestically in Australia, which is not only competitive with the Government’s best guess timeline around international vaccine imports, but vastly superior, as it would provide a permanent buffer against unexpected events overseas.
Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP said:
“We should be able to make each key type of COVID vaccine here in Australia, to look after ourselves and our neighbours.
“By failing to diversify domestic vaccine production, the government has left us exposed to international events and the whims of big drug corporations.
“If the government had set up a publicly-owned vaccine maker when the Greens first called for it almost a year ago, it could be up and running by now.
“This government wants to build a publicly funded gas power plant to cook the planet, but not a publicly funded vaccine facility to keep Australians safe.
“So much of Scott Morrison’s failures have come as a result of poor planning for international uncertainty, and assuming that everything will go smoothly from here is reckless.
“The government set aside $10b in discretionary funding for the COVID response. The government should immediately direct $1b of the unallocated discretionary funds to help set up a publicly-owned vaccine manufacturer with mRNA capability.
“This is exactly the kind of public health measure that the government should be using the discretionary budget to fund. If Scott Morrison fails to act, the Greens will be moving in Parliament during the Budget session to demand funding for domestic vaccine production.
“The abandonment of the vaccination timetable is in part due to the Government’s failure to heed calls to develop domestic, publicly-owned vaccine production.”
Greens Health spokesperson, Senator Rachel Siewert said:
“Australia unfortunately sold off our publicly-owned vaccine capacity – cheaply. Now it’s time to buy back the farm.
“If we had domestic mRNA manufacturing capacity established in Australia, we would be in a position to roll-out the vaccines we need with a timeline that we had some control over.
“The Greens put the case for publicly-owned domestic vaccine production to the government a year ago. But we say today that it is better late than never, and in the post-Covid era such capacity will put us in good stead for decades to come.
“With publicly-owned domestic mRNA manufacturing capacity, we will be able to beat this pandemic, and any one that follows it. With domestic vaccine production we’ll be able to rapidly adjust to new strains as they develop, and  become a vaccine production hub for the region.”

Further sickening revelations about the existence of an illegal drinking establishment at Tarinkot base in Afghanistan, and the involvement of senior commanding officers at that establishment, are yet more evidence of the culture that General’s Campbell and Burr are not fit to implement the recommendations of the Brereton Inquiry report.
Australian Greens Peace and Disarmament spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John the revelations were yet more evidence of the horrific cultural problem that existed within our ADF throughout Afghanistan while General’s Campbell and Burr were in senior leadership positions, and that has been allowed to continue to this very day.
“Chief of the Defence Force, General Campbell, and Chief of Army, General Burr, have irresolvable conflicts of interest; it is impossible for the public to trust that commanding officers will be held to account when the process is led by the top brass who themselves held commanding roles during the period of time when many of these alleged crimes were committed,” Steele-John said.
“If this level of alleged systemic failure had occurred within a financial institution, it would be totally inappropriate for the reform of that institution to be led by an individual who held a senior executive position during the time that alleged criminal activity occurred.
“It is simply unimaginable that the top brass were unaware of the existence of this drinking establishment or the fact that it was frequented by commanding officers. Given what we’ve seen reported today in The Age, it was clearly an open secret.
“The perception that there has been a deliberate cover up, or that the top brass have turned a blind eye to the behaviour of our ADF personnel in Afghanistan, is undermining the process that must be undertaken.
“It is untenable for either General Campbell or General Burr to play a role in the implementation of recommendations from the Brereton Report; they must both immediately resign.”

In a major boost to Australia’s film and television industry, the Morrison Government will extend two measures that will support the continued production of quality, local screen content as the sector recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The highly effective $50 million Temporary Interruption Fund (TIF) will be extended for a further six months, to provide coverage for productions that commence principal photography prior to 31 December 2021.
The Morrison Government will also retain at 40 per cent the Producer Offset rate for feature films with a theatrical release. In addition, as announced last year, the Government will raise the Producer Offset rate from 20 to 30 per cent for other eligible formats such as drama and documentary content for television and streaming platforms.
Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, The Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said these support measures would enable the local screen industry to continue to create quality Australian productions and keep thousands of jobs and businesses in the local production sector.
“Despite our successes in managing COVID-19 in Australia, the continuing severity of the pandemic internationally is a problem for screen production, with insurers still not providing coverage for COVID-19 related events,” Minister Fletcher said.
“TIF has been vital in providing the certainty that productions need to secure financing, and it will have assisted with more than 12,000 production roles and 5000 business contracts in its first year of operation.”
The 40 per cent Producer Offset supports around 50 Australian feature films per year with total average rebates of around $124 million. This injects over $300 million per year into the Australian economy, and underpins the tremendous success Australian feature films have had at the box office in recent times.
Minister Fletcher said, “Australian feature films play an important role in our cultural identity and resonate strongly with audiences at home and abroad. After consulting with Australian feature film producers and considering the feature film environment abroad, we have determined that retaining the offset at 40 per cent is appropriate to ensure the ongoing vitality of the sector.”
TIF and the Producer Offset are administered by Screen Australia. Eligibility criteria, guidelines and how to apply are available at: https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding-and-support