Month: May 2021

An Albanese Labor Government will strengthen laws to make it clear employers must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work.
The change is a key recommendation of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s Respect@Work report. This change will confirm that employers have a positive duty to keep their staff safe from sexual harassment.
In the past five years, one in three people experienced sexual harassment at work, including two in five women.
Often there are only consequences for employers after sexual harassment has occurred, and only if victims are brave enough to risk their careers by making a formal complaint.
This can lead to employers discouraging victims from making complaints, instead of providing a safe working environment, free from sexual harassment.
As the Respect@Work report makes clear, existing laws are not working to protect workers and reform is urgently needed.
Labor’s commitment is about helping to stop workplace sexual harassment before it starts.
In Government, Labor would have the Workplace Sexual Harassment Council consult with employers, workers, unions, and legal experts on the design and implementation of these strengthened laws.
The Liberals made a big flashy announcement and said they had agreed to all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report. But they haven’t.
That’s the thing about Scott Morrison announcements: there’s always a catch. There’s always a nasty surprise in the fine print.
Australian women want action from their government, not just words. Australian women want real leadership. They are not getting that from Scott Morrison, but they will with Labor.

An Albanese Labor Government will create a ten billion dollar off-budget Housing Australia Future Fund to build social and affordable housing now and into the future.
This will create jobs, build homes and change lives.
Over the first five years, it will:

• Build 20,000 new social housing properties, including 4,000 homes for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence and older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness,
• Build 10,000 affordable homes for the heroes of the pandemic – frontline workers like police, nurses and cleaners that kept us safe,
• Directly support 21,500[1] full-time jobs across the construction industry and broader economy, per year, over 5 years, nationwide – One in 10 direct workers on site will be apprentices.
• Provide $200 million for the repair, maintenance and improvements of housing in remote Indigenous communities, where some of the worst housing standards in the world are endured by our First Nations people,
• Invest $100 million in crisis and transitional housing for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence, and older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness, and
• Invest $30 million to build housing and fund specialist services for veterans who are experiencing homelessness or at-risk of homelessness.

After the first five years, a portion of the investment returns will be available to fund acute housing needs each year, in perpetuity. This funding will be used for additional crisis housing, transitional housing and long-term social housing in parts of the country with the greatest need.
This is not just good social policy, it’s also good economic policy.
Over the first five years the value of residential construction work directly supported by the Housing Australia Future Fund will be approximately $12 billion and inject over $34.8 billion into the economy. [2]
After eight long years in Government, housing affordability has just got worse and there are more homeless Australians than ever before.
The Housing Australia Future Fund will give more Australians a future.
Quote attributable to the Leader of the Australian Labor Party, Anthony Albanese:
“The security of a roof over one’s head should be available to all Australians.”
 
“The home I grew up in gave me and my mum so much more than somewhere to sleep. It gave us pride, dignity and security, and it gave me a future.”
Quote attributable to Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness Jason Clare:
“This will make money, create jobs, build homes and change lives.”

An Albanese Labor Government will protect Australian workers from exploitation and rip-offs by criminalising wage theft.
Wage theft costs workers an estimated $1.35 billion every year.
It happens across industries – from construction to health care, from retail to accommodation – and disproportionately affects vulnerable workers like women, young people and migrants.
Across Australia a worker who steals from the till is committing a crime – but in most states and territories an employer who steals their workers’ wages is not. This is completely unfair.
For some employers, wage theft has become part of their business model. It’s well past time we end this epidemic.
A Labor Government will consult with states and territories, unions and employers to develop laws that criminalise wage theft nationwide.
Labor’s laws will not water down any wage theft laws already passed by the states.
The Labor governments in Victoria and Queensland moved to criminalise wage theft last year because Scott Morrison has refused to act. But Australia needs a national wage theft system to end the rip-offs.
The Liberals and Nationals have been in government for eight long years. There have been dozens of high profile wage theft scandals under their watch with tens of thousands of workers ripped off.
Mr Morrison had to be dragged kicking and screaming into even acknowledging there was a problem. Two years ago he finally announced he’d do something about it – but as usual he hasn’t delivered.
Labor voted in the Senate in March to pass national wage theft laws.
With Labor and the Senate crossbench on board, the Government had the numbers to easily pass the wage theft laws through Parliament. Instead it threw a tantrum and tore up its own laws because it couldn’t also get support for its plans to cut workers’ pay and conditions.
Mr Morrison decided to send a clear signal to wage thieves: keep it up.
It’s clear now the only way Australia will get national wage theft laws to protect workers is by electing an Albanese Labor Government.

The Australian Greens have used their Budget in Reply speech to announce a new tax on extreme profiteering by billionaires during the pandemic.
The new tax, which only applies to the 122 richest Australians, will raise $29 billion. It will be taxed on the amount their wealth increased between March 2020 and March 2021.
While everyone else struggled during the pandemic, Australia’s billionaires increased their wealth by $90 billion, a 34% increase, for a total of $417b between them. The one-off levy, similar to a proposal from Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey in the United States, would see billionaires pay a tax of 50% on the gains made during the pandemic.
Greens Leader Adam Bandt said billionaires in Australia made out like bandits during the pandemic, often off the back of receiving public subsidies like JobKeeper, and the tax was urgently needed to make our country fairer and recover from the pandemic by cheating secure jobs and providing people with a better life.
The Greens Leader will say in his speech that the profiteering tax would address what the Budget missed by helping restore funding to Australia’s decimated university sector, start building 1 million new public housing homes and getting Australia’s transport fleet running on renewable electricity.
Excerpts from Mr Bandt’s Budget in reply speech, to be delivered Wednesday evening:
1 in 3 big corporations pays no tax and billionaires increased their wealth by a third during the pandemic, but this Budget fails to make billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share, grows inequality and fast-tracks the climate crisis.
In the middle of a climate crisis, the Budget finds $11.4b for fossil fuels this year and another $1.1b for new coal and gas projects, but nothing for electrifying transport, a sector responsible for 16% of our emissions.
Meanwhile, it’s champagne for the billionaires and real pain for everyone else.
In fact, this Budget is based on real wages going backwards for two years.
It’s tax cuts for billionaires and handouts for big corporations, but wage cuts for workers and poverty for the unemployed.
During the pandemic, while the rest of us were locked down and wages were flat, the billionaires made out like bandits.
While young people went backwards, Australia’s billionaires’ wealth grew faster than billionaires anywhere else in the world.
Australia’s billionaires are similar to wartime profiteers, who while the rest of the nation is making a sacrifice on a collective effort, lined their own pockets with cash.
Gina Rinehart more than doubled her wealth during the pandemic, and is now worth $36 billion. Twiggy, Rinehart and Clive Palmer increased their personal wealth by 141% between them during the pandemic.
This extreme wealth generation is obscene. We are creating a class of oligarchs who have too much power.
Everyone in this country deserves free childcare and early education. Everyone deserves to be able to access Medicare backed dental and mental care. Everyone deserves to live in an affordable home. And everyone deserves a well paid, secure job.
But instead, we have billions in handouts for big corporations and billionaires. We have Kerry Stokes’s new private jet and we have Gerry Harvey refusing to pay back JobKeeper while dishing out shareholder profits and CEO bonuses.
We can fix this.
At the next election, a swing against the Morrison government will most likely put the Greens in balance of power in both Houses of Parliament.
The Greens are a few hundred votes away from holding the balance of power.
In the balance of power after the next election, the Greens will bring in a series of new taxes on billionaires.
We recently announced a 6% ongoing billionaire’s tax. It’s urgent that we make them pay. They won’t like it. They love not paying their fair share.
And today we announce our next plan, to tax the extreme wealth made during the pandemic.
We will introduce a 50% tax on the increase in their wealth during the last twelve months. This tax only applies to 122 people is worth $29 billion.
It’s only half of the increases in wealth billionaires made during the pandemic, a crisis where we all made sacrifices, and will be used to benefit all 25 million people in this country.
Again, the billionaires won’t like it, but I don’t care.
I care about the 25 million. The ones who were forced to raid their super. Or denied government support because they worked in universities, the arts and cultural industries. Or those who were in casual and insecure work.
I care about the people who fought to keep a roof over their heads, not the Australian billionaires who bought new jets.
I want to see the university sector and the arts sector restored and expanded, not further decimated.
I want to see us start to build back better with renewable infrastructure that can replace our dirty coal and gas export industry so that we can electrify Australia’s transport and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
And let’s build 1 million new public housing homes for low income earners, while creating thousands of new apprenticeships in the process.
To fight the climate crisis and become a renewable energy superpower, we need to electrify our nation, and critical to the transformation is the electrification of our transportation system.
But this Budget has no money to support the shift to electric vehicles. 60% of the Budget’s new infrastructure spend is on roads, but not one dollar for charging infrastructure on those roads.
The rest of the world is moving to electric vehicles and Australia is not ready.
The revenue raised by the billionaires tax would help fund investments in charging infrastructure for our road network and for businesses and public buildings.
Transforming our transportation networks and building our nation, ensuring that when petrol car makers switch to electric over the next decade that Australia is ready.
At the next election we will kick the Liberals out, and we will push the next government to go further and faster.
Further and faster on tackling the billionaires.
Further and faster on pushing up wages and creating secure jobs.
Further and faster on tackling the climate crisis.
This is the fight for the future.

“This budget is a surplus of scatter gun approaches and tinkering around the edges.
“This is a budget that continues the ongoing disdain this Government has for people who have been doing it tough for a long time and for whom things have only got worse due to the global pandemic and recession: people on income support, older women, young people, single parents and disabled people.
“Despite entrenched poverty in this country, budget after budget fails to address it and charities and the not for profit sector are left to pick up the pieces under increasing strain.
“A strong social safety net and great public services are the absolute bedrock of ensuring equality and opportunity for all. Budgets should prioritise this.
“This Budget provides $213 million to “strengthen” mutual obligations – more money to punish, threaten and bully people.
“Jobactive is failing and a cash cow for job providers to make money out of an unemployment industry.
“The Government is now making savings by transitioning to digital services instead of injecting funding into and transforming the systems to provide more targeted, individualised personal support.
“The home deposit scheme for single parents is a joke. So many single parents are living in poverty, the vast majority can’t even comprehend saving for a house. How out of touch is this Government!
“I’m very pleased the Government has finally scrapped the racist and punitive Community Development Program which has entrenched poverty in rural and remote regions.
“We will be following closely to ensure that the Minister is true to his intention in the budget papers to co-design the new Remote Jobs Program with First Nations communities.
“$17 billion over 4 years is not enough to fix our broken aged care system. The sector needs $10 billion per year.
“There is a lack of serious intent by this Government to transform aged care and increase transparency and accountability.
“There is no guarantee of better care unless there is proper accountability and transparency in this sector.
“We will end up back in the same place we are today if we don’t start this process by putting proper safeguards in place.
“The Royal Commission was also very clear that investment in staff is a significant part of fixing this crisis but where is the workforce strategy and it’s frankly insulting that there is not a pay increase for aged care workers.
“How do we expect to attract the additional 70,000 aged care workers that we need without increased wages?
“The approach to mental health is scatter gun and piecemeal, with not enough long-term vision and structural reform.  Everyone should be able to access mental health treatment and support when and where they need it. This investment is not enough to achieve this. We will still have a rationed system.
“This Government claims to be concerned about mental health but their commitments ring hollow if they cannot even give people living on the JobSeeker payment the dignity to live above the poverty line or address the underlying causes of mental ill health like affordable housing.
“There is no measure in this budget to ensure that mental health care is accessible and affordable to people on low incomes who at the moment are struggling to access basic services.”

The Australian Government is investing $800.3 million to improve the health of Australians in regional, rural, and remote areas, ensuring all Australians have access to quality health care services.
Federal Regional Health Minister, Mark Coulton said the 2021-22 Federal Budget supports bold, new rural workforce and training measures designed to further deliver the Government’s ten-year Stronger Rural Health Strategy.
“Regional Australia is driving Australia’s economic recovery from COVID-19, and through our investment in the health portfolio in the 2021-22 Budget we continue to provide support to enable the regions and our local communities to prosper and grow,” Minister Coulton said.
“This is a health budget especially for the almost 8 million Australians who live and work in the regions. All Australians, regardless where they live, should have access to high quality health care.”
The Morrison McCormack Government continues – in this Budget – to invest in the rural training pipeline and improve the financial viability of rural practise, helping grow the nation’s highly skilled and vital rural health workforce.
A measure with immediate impact on the bottom-line for our doctors, is the introduction from 1 January 2022, at a cost of more than $65 million in the first four years, of a new progressive bulk billing schedule to better acknowledge remoteness under the MBS.
“Our Government understands doctors face greater health complexities and challenges in rural and remote areas, which is why more than 12,000 GPs will be eligible for a higher bulk billing incentive,” Minister Coulton said.
“Enhancing the financial viability of GP practices in rural towns and remote areas is just one of the things governments need to do to ensure we are attracting doctors to where they are most needed.
More junior doctors will receive invaluable rural training experiences through the new $12.4 million John Flynn Prevocational Doctor Training Program.
“This is a much needed injection for rural training, which will deliver almost double the current number of rural primary care rotations, ensuring young doctors have more exposure to the opportunities available in rural practice,” Minister Coulton said
“We continue to invest in training early career allied health professionals through a $9.6 million expansion of the successful Allied Health Rural Generalist Pathway, which more than doubles the number of training positions for allied health disciplines.
“Allied health plays an important role in primary care. It is why we are supporting allied health professionals to participate in patient management conferencing, to provide more team-based primary health care to people in the bush.”
The Government is developing a streamlined program to support the National Rural Generalist Pathway in recognition of the greater demands and broader range of advance skills doctors often require in regional areas, especially where there is less support from other doctors and hospital services.
Minister Coulton said the Coalition Government understands rural and remote communities require bespoke, innovative workforce and training measures if we are to create more sustainable health services, better harness existing resources, and attract more health professionals to rural areas.
“Another $2.2 million will increase the number of collaborative primary care models underway in rural Australia, similar to those already in progress in southern and western NSW,” he said.
“We are also supporting a similar approach for specialist training, by investing $29.5 million to trial new regional training models with the aim of keeping more specialists training in rural settings, rather than them needing to relocate to training hospitals in metropolitan areas.
To further advance primary care in rural Australia, the Primary Health Network after hours program is being extended, the Hearing Services Online portal is being modernised and rural and remote diagnostic imaging providers are being assisted to upgrade and replace older equipment.
Minister Coulton welcomed significant investments in the 2021–22 Budget across the health portfolio to undertake once-in-a-generation changes to aged care, and strong reforms to the mental health sector.
“Our five pillar, five-year plan for aged care will deliver a record $17.7 billion package to reform the aged care sector, based on the principles of respect, care and dignity for our ageing,” he said.
“I want to see regional people be able to receive the care they need in the communities where they have lived, worked and raised their families.
“Rural, regional and remote communities will see improvements to residential aged care funding models, an expansion of home care packages, direct funding for infrastructure upgrades and greater support for the workforce, especially for registered nurses and GPs.
“Our $2.3 billion investment in mental health and suicide prevention – the largest investment in Australia’s history – includes direct benefits for country communities.”
A new national network of 57 additional mental health treatment centres and satellites, as well as an expansion of the Headspace program, will bolster services for the young and old in the bush.
Minister Coulton said the Government understands that one of the barriers regional Australians face in accessing mental health services is workforce shortages.
“The Budget delivers $202 million for the mental health workforce, including $58.8 million aimed at boosting the number of psychiatrists, mental health nurses, psychologists and allied health practitioners in mental health services. More than $15 million is also available to support GPs to train and upskill to provide mental health care in the regions,” he said.
The Government is continuing the critical services regional Australians have relied on during COVID-19 with $3 billion to extend our COVID-19 health response, including $1.9 billion for the COVID-19 vaccination rollout and $204.6 million to extend telehealth measures, which have kept rural and regional communities safe and helped tackle the tyranny of distance.
“The Nationals understand the complex challenges faced by the rural health sector, such as recruiting GPs, nurses and allied health professionals to the bush, and I am 100 per cent committed to developing a range of programs and initiatives to combat this,” he said.
The new investment in the 2021-22 Budget is in addition to the $6.1 billion the Government is estimated to provide towards small rural and regional hospitals through the 2020-25 National Health Reform Agreement, and $7.5 billion for existing health workforce programs over the forward estimates.
REGIONAL HEALTH 2021-22 BUDGET SNAPSHOT
The Government’s 2021-22 rural, regional and remote investments in the 2021-22 Budget include, but is not limited to the following:
COVID Response

• $3 billion to continue critical services that regional and rural Australians have relied on during COVID.
  • $1.9bn for vaccine rollout, including priority for remote communities of less than 5,000 people;
  • $1.1bn to extend COVID-19 health response, including $204.6m to continue MBS tele-health services, and $87.5m for the 150 GP-led Respiratory Clinics.

Aged care

• Over $17.7 billion in aged care reforms nationally, across five pillars including:
  • One-off payment of $1,145 per resident to aged care facilities in non-metro areas;
  • $13.4m to strengthen regional aged care stewardship within 8 of the 31 PHNs;
  • $25.1m to expand the Rural Locum Assistance Program;
  • $630.2m to improve access to quality aged care services for consumers in regional, rural and remote areas including those with First Nations backgrounds and special needs groups;
  • $6.5 billion for an additional 80,000 Home Care Packages which will make a total of 275,598 packages available by June 2023; and
  • $652.1m to grow a skilled, professional and compassionate workforce, including $135.6m to provide RNs with financial support of $3,700 for full-time and $2,700 for part-time workers, nursing scholarships.

Mental Health and Suicide Prevention

• $2.3 billion, the largest single mental health and suicide prevention investment in Australia’s history.
• Five priority areas which form the first phase of the Government’s response to the PC Report.
  • Prevention and early intervention $248.6m;
  • Suicide Prevention $298.1m;
  • Treatment $1.4bn – Head to Health Adult Mental Health Centres – 8 new centres, 24 satellite ($487.2m) and expanding headspace -10 new centres, 5 satellite ($278.6m);
  • Support for the Vulnerable $107m – $79m for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention; and
  • Workforce and Governance $202m – $58.8m to boost the number of psychiatrists, nurses psychologists and allied health practitioners in mental health settings, $15.9m to support GPs to upskill and provide primary mental health care.

Rural Health Workforce

• $123m for Rural Health Workforce initiatives, including:
  • $65.8m to boost bulk billing rebates in rural and remote areas with effect from 1 January 2022.
  • $9.6m to expand the Allied Health Rural Generalist Pathway
  • $2.2m for more collaborative primary care models
  • $12.4m for the new John Flynn Pre-vocational Doctor Training Program to increase rural primary care rotations
  • $29.5m to increase non-GP medical specialist training in areas facing workforce shortages
  • $0.3m to streamline the Rural Procedural Grants Program and Practice Incentives Program

Primary Health Care

• $71.9m to extend the PHN After Hours program;
• $20.7m to assist rural and remote diagnostic imaging providers to replace older equipment;
• $50.7m for MyGP ICT system to support voluntary patient registration;
• $13.7m for allied health case conferencing to better support multidisciplinary care for patients; and
• $5.7m to modernise the Hearing Services Online portal, helping deliver care to Australians with hearing loss.

The Morrison Government has strengthened its investment in sport as part of the 2021–22 Budget.
Minister for Sport Richard Colbeck said the Budget commitment spanned school sport through to high performance programs ensuring the health and wellbeing of Australians at every level.
The Australian Government’s $245.8 million investment in sport includes:

• $40.8 million to extend the successful Sporting Schools program;
• $132.8 million for Australia’s high-performance sport programs. This represents a growth in annual funding and will continue through to 2023-2024. It includes:
  • $50.6 million to support 56 high-performance programs – a boost to 2600 athletes and 320 staff particularly in the lead up to the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2024 Olympics and Paralympics; and
  • $82.2 million to extend Athlete Performance Pathways and wellbeing programs.
• $3.5 million for increased operational costs for the Australian Paralympic team to participate in the Tokyo Paralympics as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.

“Sport is a centrepiece of our way of life in Australia and the Morrison Government has never been more committed to ensuring it remains accessible to anybody with a passion to compete or just improve their health and wellbeing,” Minister Colbeck said.
“Our Sporting Schools Program has already proved a significant starting block to teach hundreds of thousands of children about the benefits of sport and what they can achieve with hard work and persistence – it will now continue.”
The program, delivered by Sport Australia, is open to all schools and children up to Year 8.
It has a particular focus on student groups known to have lower activity levels, including girls aged 12 to 14 years and those in disadvantaged and remote locations.
“The Government’s commitment to our high-performance athletes is also ongoing, with our significant and growing investment offering stability and reassurance for those focused on making their mark on the world stage,” Minister Colbeck said.
Strengthening and promoting women’s sport also remains a priority with $17 million to support the hosting of two major international women’s sporting events – the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 and the FIFA Women’s Football World Cup 2023. $2.9 million is also being made available to leverage opportunities through other major international sporting events hosted by Australia.
“These events will support Australia’s economic recovery from COVID-19 and no doubt contribute to increased participation and prominence in sport for women and girls,” Minister Colbeck said.
The Government will continue to act on the recommendations of the 2018 Review of Australia’s Sports Integrity Arrangements (the Wood Review) by providing an investment of $24.9 million in Sport Integrity Australia, maintaining the agency’s foundation anti-doping, criminal intelligence and administrative capabilities.
It will also invest $3.4 million to continue and enhance connections to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and reinforce domestic integrity capabilities in preparation for major sporting events.
Additionally, $4.9 million will be allocated to strengthen child safeguarding practices and ensure the safety and protection of children.
A dedicated team will be established within Sporting Integrity Australia to work with all recognised National Sporting Organisations to embed child safeguards, and drive cultural change in line with national requirements such as the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.
Another $1.8 million will help streamline the regulation of sports wagering through a new Australian Sports Wagering Scheme (ASWS).
The ASWS will bring together regulatory approaches across Commonwealth, state and territories jurisdictions to ensure there is a framework to protect the integrity of sport, and make Australian sporting competitions more resistant to ever evolving manipulation tactics.
“Each of these measures will strengthen the integrity of Australia’s sporting landscape as we reinforce measures to protect the rights of athletes and ensure they compete on a clean and even playing field,” Minister Colbeck said.
The Morrison Government will also provide a three year extension to the Water and Snow Safety Program with a total investment of $39.1 million.
Funding will be provided to Surf Life Saving Australia, the Royal Life Saving Society of Australia, AUSTSWIM, Lawrie Lawrence’s Kids Alive program and the Ski Patrol Association to continue their valuable work.
The Morrison Government’s 2021–22 Budget can be found here.

The Australian Government has secured 25 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to further diversify our vaccine portfolio as well as provide access to a booster or variant vaccine should this be required in the future.
As confirmed in the 2021-22 Budget, the Government will commence an approach to market for mRNA manufacturing capacity in Australia.
The Government also remains in discussions with Moderna in relation to establishing a manufacturing facility in Australia for mRNA vaccines.
Onshore manufacturing would ensure a secure, long-term supply of Moderna’s mRNA-based vaccines against COVID-19, including variants, and for potential future pandemics.
This is the second messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine to be purchased by the Government, providing access to the current Moderna vaccine or variant-specific versions of the vaccine developed by Moderna, to address longer term immunity or emerging viral variants in the first half of 2022.
To date, the Moderna vaccine has shown an overall vaccine efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 of 94.1 per cent, and 100 per cent efficacy against severe COVID-19. It has also shown strong protection of 90 per cent efficacy against COVID-19 for at least six months after the second dose.
The Moderna vaccine has been approved by leading regulatory authorities across the world and is being used successfully in the United Kingdom, Canada, the European Union, the United States and Singapore.
The agreement includes 10 million doses in 2021 and 15 million doses of Moderna’s updated variant booster vaccine in 2022.
Supply in Australia will only commence should the vaccine be approved as safe and effective by Australia’s regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). An application by Moderna to the TGA is expected shortly.
The Science and Industry Technical Advisory Group, the Australian Government’s expert group advising on vaccine purchases, has recommended the purchase of the Moderna vaccine.
As Australia looks to 2022, the Moderna vaccine provides a strong booster and emerging variants supply if required.
A complete course of Moderna’s vaccination is likely to be two doses given 28 days apart.
The Moderna vaccine diversifies Australia’s supply of COVID-19 vaccines, provides more flexibility for the national vaccine rollout, and secures early access to possible vaccinations for emerging COVID-19 variants of concern circulating around the world.
Australia has five separate agreements to secure more than 195 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines if they are proved to be safe and effective. Around $6 billion has been invested to support the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out.