Public funds will be poured into projects to make medicine and medical devices for the global market under a $1.5 billion federal plan that deepens a political row over industry subsidies.
Industry Minister Ed Husic will outline the plans for medical manufacturing in a co-investment plan that will guide the National Reconstruction Fund on how it should invest a share of its reserves in health projects. “We demonstrated very clearly with Gardasil that we could do the research, but the manufacturing had to be done overseas,” he said.Advertisement
“Gardasil is a prime example of the terrible cost of lost opportunity – brilliant Australian medical research ended up being manufactured overseas because we didn’t have the capabilities, or the drive, to make it here. Labor has already pledged $42 billion to investment schemes including a $1 billion subsidy for solar panel manufacturing earlier this month, a $2 billion subsidy for hydrogen producers, the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund, the $2 billion Critical Minerals Facility, and a $2 billion expansion of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility last year. It has also added $20 billion to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
“These emerging fields present opportunities for Australia to carve out a market niche as the global pharmaceutical industry shifts to focus on higher value and more personalised therapies,” it says.Loading