Cost of NSW school-issued rapid antigen tests hits $57 million

The state government has spent a huge amount on rapid antigen tests for school students - but is anyone using them? Vote in our poll.

Taxpayers have already spent more than $57 million to cover the first fortnight of the program to test students twice a week with rapid antigen tests, analysis from The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Costing about $6.60 a pop, supplying millions of RATs to schools across the state has been labelled a waste of money and a nuisance by parents who say they won’t even use them.

The school-issued RATs come from a stockpile of 150 million RATs purchased by the Perrottet government, which the Premier said cost approximately $1 billion.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Gaye Gerard

Packets of NSW school supplied rapid antigen tests.

At $6.60 each, the 8.6 million tests to cover the first two weeks of term would have cost $57 million.

If another 8.6 million is delivered to cover the final two weeks, the costs would be more than $100 million.

On Monday he said it was “money well spent” because it meant kids could get back to the classroom on day one.

The RAT program was primarily imposed as a confidence measure for parents and teachers who would otherwise be wary of sending kids back. Health experts have mixed views on the benefit of the twice-weekly RAT tests.

Despite being designed to instil confidence and get all kids back to class, P and C member and Lisarow High School parent Craig Kettle said the millions of dollars being spent on tests could have been better used.

He said the RATs were being provided to placate anxious, wealthy parents.

Craig Kettle from Lisarow said the millions spent on RAT tests could have been better used. Picture: James Croucher

“It is more for the inner-city, eastern suburbs elites, the helicopter parents who are overprotective and too scared to walk out the door in case something actually happens,” he said.

“It is a lot of money we are spending to make people feel secure.

“I would sooner have the money spent on improving airconditioning at the school, improving learning standards, buying books, buying extra sanitiser within the classroom — they are more functional and more valuable than these tests.”

NSW Parents Council president Rose Cantali, who represents mums and dads in the state’s independent schools, said the voluntary system of testing was not effective.

“I think they need to scrap parents testing before school because it is not going to work, there is no consistency,” she said.

“There is no guarantee that a parent will do it, so I really think if the government is so keen on ensuring the children are all tested they need to do it themselves, instead of giving that responsibility to the parents.”

She said that could be done by stationing nurses in schools but predicted parents would not care in a few weeks time because more and more people were finding the symptoms in their children were very mild.

“I am seeing parents of kids who do have it, I have noticed it doesn’t worry them at all, they’ve just got a runny nose.”

TESTING EVERY CHILD A ‘WASTE OF TIME’

Southwest Sydney mum Tiffany Dionysiou does not see the point of asking every school student to undertake two rapid antigen tests a week.

“I personally think it is very pointless and a waste of time because if you’re running late, you’re not going to do the test, you’re just going to take your kids to school,” she said. “People who are running on time will do it, but there are a lot of people who just know their kid is not sick and they will walk out the door.”

Tiffany Dionysiou tested her son Benjamin El-Ashrafi before his first day of kindergarten on Tuesday despite disagreeing with the policy. Picture: Tim Hunter

However, she administered one of the tests provided by the government to her son Benjamin El-Ashrafi, 4, before his first day at Gledswood Hills Public School yesterday. She was relieved it was negative for Covid-19.

“We got the test from the school (and) it was negative,” she said.

A survey of 1000 parents by consultancy firm Nature found 15 per cent would only test their children with the provided RATs if they presented Covid symptoms. Seventy per cent planned to test their children twice a week as requested by the NSW government.

Meanwhile, Benjamin’s first day of kindergarten was a breeze with no tears as he marched through the school gates.

“He was excited, just wants to be grown up, he thinks school is what big kids do,” Ms Dionysiou said. “I thought his older brother wasn’t ready for school, and I think he is not ready, but within a few weeks they become a whole different person. They just pick up on everything straight away.”