‘A RAT means a missed meal’: Morrison government urged to make rapid Covid tests free for all

Vulnerable Australians are being forced into "hiding at home" and lower-income workers are skipping meals because of the cost of rapid Covid tests, unions and welfare charities warn, as they plead with the Morrison government to reverse its opposition to providing free testing kits for all.

Despite the government's recent move to make rapid antigen tests tax deductible, a coalition of advocacy groups including the Australian Council of Social Services (Acoss) and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) warn the tax write-off plan provides a greater discount to higher-income earners.

The groups also argue the existing concessional access scheme - which provides up to 10 free RATs over three months to eligible recipients and is loss-making for some pharmacists - has not done enough to allow all Australians to access tests when they need them.

The ACTU will on Monday deliver a petition to parliament calling for free and accessible RATs for all Australians. More than 150,000 people had signed the petition by Sunday night.

Michele O'Neil, the ACTU president, said making rapid testing kits free for everyone was "the only way we're going to keep workplaces and the wider community safe from Omicron, and alleviate at least some of the immense stress being placed on our healthcare workers".

"Low-income workers have been on the frontline of this pandemic from the very beginning. It is unfair that they are having to shoulder the burden of paying for their own rapid antigen tests, just so they can keep themselves, their workplaces and their loved ones safe," O'Neil said.

The Acoss chief executive, Cassandra Goldie, said "for many the decision to buy a RAT means a missed meal or a bill that can't be paid on time - those are real-time decisions which cannot be put off".