National Cabinet meeting: Aussie kids to get rapid tests to keep schools open

The Prime Minister has unveiled a plan to help keep Australian schools open, and revealed what premiers have decided on close contacts and isolation.

Rapid tests for students and teachers will be jointly funded by the federal government in a bid to help schools stay safely open.

Speaking after Thursday’s national cabinet meeting, Scott Morrison said the medical advice he had received did not support widespread surveillance testing in schools.

But the Prime Minister said some state governments would still choose to carry out such testing, depending on the status of the Omicron wave in their area.

States will unveil their back-to-school plans in coming days, after the Herald Sun revealed earlier this week that Victoria was planning to encourage students to complete two rapid tests each week.

Mr Morrison said the commonwealth would fund half the cost of rapid tests for students and teachers if states determined such surveillance testing was necessary in schools.

He said the national cabinet had agreed on the importance of schools opening in time for the start of the academic year, and to implement measures to ensure classrooms remained safely open.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has given a Covid update in Canberra.

The national cabinet meeting also decided against adjusting isolation and close contact requirements for essential workforces.

Mr Morrison said the leaders were confident that they had the “right balance between getting people back to work and not over-stressing the hospital system”.

He also said the national cabinet had not supported a controversial proposal from the freight and transport sector to allow children as young as 16 to drive forklifts.

Mr Morrison said each state would release its back to school plans individually over the next few days.

Chief medical officer Professor Paul Kelly said the return to school would increase movement in the community, and would therefore increase the transmission potential of the virus.

“That’s something we need to deal with,” he said.

But he said the national medical expert panel agreed that the “most important thing is to get schools back” for physical, mental, social and developmental reasons.

Mr Morrison said the national cabinet had no advice that students should not return until they were fully vaccinated, as Prof Kelly added that the incidence of severe disease among children from Covid was “very, very low”.

The chief medical officer said the health advice was “very clear” on surveillance testing not being necessary in schools.

But he said it would go ahead in some states as a way to boost “confidence to get kids back to school and teachers into the classroom as well”.

He confirmed close contact rules would remain the same for children in schools, so that only household contacts of positive cases would be required to isolate.

The plans announced today will not protect young children and childcare centre staff against Omicron, say campaigners.

There are currently 323 childcare centres closed across Australia, with many more running at reduced capacity.

Thrive by Five CEO Jay Weatherill predicted chaos if urgent changes are not made by the start of next week.

“We will have chaos in early learning classrooms and more centre closures unless the Federal Government provides more certainty and support to protect children and keep early learning open in a safe and responsible way,” he said.

“The National Cabinet meeting today has failed to result in greater surety for parents, educators or the early learning sector.”

The campaign group wants clear guidelines and protocols for contact exposure, isolation requirements and for return to work or care after isolation; free RATs for educators and families and an 85 per cent subsidy guarantee to ensure educators can be paid, including those unable to work because of exposure.