As COVID-19 cases linked to the Omicron variant explode across the country, state and territory testing clinics have come under increasing pressure, leading to a growing push for rapid antigen tests.
While chemists and other stores have reported large shortages of the tests, the prime minister said Australia would not make the tests free for everyone.
“We’re now in a stage of the pandemic where you can’t just go around making everything free,” Mr Morrison said on Monday.
“When someone tells you they want to make something free, someone’s always going to pay for it, and it’s going to be you.”
Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has blamed the rapid antigen test shortages on people panic buying.
“The sooner people stop buying them to keep them at home ‘just in case’, the sooner we’ll get back to normal,” Ms Andrews said.
About 84 million rapid antigen tests have been secured by state and territory governments, which have been jointly funded by the Commonwealth.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said as many as 100 million would be made available during the next two months, nearly double the number of all PCR tests conducted nationally since the pandemic began two years ago.
Mr Hunt reiterated that rapid antigen tests would not be made free for everyone.
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