Building a stronger and fairer Australia

As Australia enters the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for strategic government investment to bolster employment, address shortages of critical skills and resources, prepare the economy for long term growth and address inequality and discrimination is more pressing than ever before.

With widespread mass vaccination in place, hopes for the start of a post COVID-19 recovery were quickly dashed by the arrival of the highly infectious Omicron variant, which has revealed severe structural weaknesses within our economy, workforce planning, health systems and local manufacturing capabilities.

Despite efforts by various state governments to restart economic growth by removing COVID-19 restrictions and ‘opening up’ their economies, the exponential spread of the Omicron variant has had the opposite effect. With a minority of the population having received their booster vaccine, the community has sought to avoid the virus and protect their health by voluntarily curtailing their engagement in the economy. 

As a case in point, the NSW Treasury estimates that the Omicron surge has cost that state’s economy approximately $3.5 billion, or around $500-600 million per week with similar projections forecast for other Australian cities which are experiencing significantly high infection rates.  

The Omicron surge has placed extreme pressure on an already overstretched and underfunded health system. Our members in medical science and pharmacy have been part of the frontline workforce, helping us to understand the COVID-19 virus and taking action to reduce its spread and impact on our community.  

Pharmacists have been involved in delivering the National Vaccination Program as well as providing other critical health services. Major shortages in Rapid Antigen Tests, personal protective equipment and vaccines have made it extremely difficult for pharmacists to do their jobs properly. As medical scientists developed PCR tests for COVID-19 and the demand for pathology services escalated, inadequate staffing levels were also evident in this sector and resulted in medical scientists working excessive hours and experiencing exhaustion.