Steven Miles slams PM’s rapid antigen tests response

Up to 12 million rapid antigen tests could have been produced in Queensland had it not been for Canberra’s bureaucratic delays, with millions instead sent to Europe, a local manufacturer has claimed.

Australia is in the grip of a rapid antigen testing “emergency” with one Queensland company sensationally revealing millions of tests could have been manufactured since September had it not been for government delays.

Eight Mile Plains medical company AnteoTech has capacity to manufacture 12 million rapid tests each year.

AnteoTech CEO Derek Thomson said he had been in discussions with Canberra to approve the manufacture of tests for about 20 months.

“Up until only very recently were rapid antigen tests nominated by governments as a frontline tool so this is a change that’s caught the supply chains on the hop in terms of supplying the market and that’s why you can’t buy one at the moment,” he said.

“We could supply millions now, it’s a good volume and it would certainly make a dent in the Queensland need at the moment.”

AnteoTech CEO Derek Thomson in his Eight Mile Plains lab. Picture David Clark

AnteoTech lodged a submission with the Therapeutic Goods Administration in September.

“We’re supplying them some more information, we’ve continued to do that and we believe that we’re in the final stages of our of our processing,” Mr Thomson said.

“We would have liked it to go quicker but we understand that they have a responsibility and we’re working with them as best we possibly can.”

Mr Thomson said AnteoTech turned to producing rapid antigen tests in Spain for the European market after receiving a lukewarm response from the Australian Government last year.

“We made representations to government in Canberra, we’re a member of the pathology technology Australia organisation and that organisation has lobbied very hard for the Australian governments to use RATs,” he said.

“We didn’t get a huge amount of traction at the time in a discussion nor did any other manufacturers by the way.

“We saw the other markets, the United States and Europe were using RATs very successfully and that’s why we went to Europe.”

Every rapid antigen test available in the Australian market is manufactured overseas.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles visits the labs of AnteoTech in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the nation was now “in a rapid antigen testing emergency”.

“It is the shortage of rapid antigen tests that means there is not meat on grocery shelves and it is not good enough for the Prime Minister to say it’s not the federal government’s job to fix this problem,” he said.

Mr Miles said the Commonwealth was warned in September more rapid antigen tests would be required.

“More than two weeks ago the Prime Minister said the market would fix it and it wasn’t the government’s job,” he said.

“The market has not fixed it and so we need the Commonwealth to do everything that they can to both get rapid antigen tests into Australia and to support sovereign manufacturers so that we can be making them here and so that we aren’t competing with other countries to get them.”