Mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest and his Minderoo Foundation’s work will dramatically expand Australia’s testing capacity, Health Minister Greg Hunt said.
“Andrew, through his work, has been able to secure on behalf of the Australian government 10 million PCR coronavirus tests,” Hunt said.
“To put that in context, we have just completed over the last 2.5 months 500,000 tests and a little bit more.
“So this will multiply our tests between now and the end of the year by almost 20 fold.”
Forrest spent $320 million on the tests, which will be repaid by the Australian government.
Andrew and wife Nicola Forrest “have been a bridge” between the Australian government and private suppliers, Hunt said.
“Because of today we can now go even further and be one of the first countries to emerge from this,” he said.
“We can never make a false promise but we can prepare, which has allowed us to be where we are and we can prepare for the future which will allow us to return to the life which we so much love and value as Australians.
“Today is a hugely important step on that road.”
The tests will be rolled out across the country for much of the population to be checked for the virus.
