1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:04,200 Speaker 1: Good morning and welcome to Tuesday, eighteenth of jan Zara 2 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Seidler here with you as always, joined by Sam Kozlarski 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:09,640 Speaker 1: to take you through the top stories of the day. 4 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:12,880 Speaker 1: We are going to be talking to Tom, our resident 5 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 1: journal about rats a bit later today, but first Sam 6 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: take us through the news today. 7 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 2: So both Australia and New Zealand have announced they will 8 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:24,759 Speaker 2: send surveillance flights to assess the damage caused by a 9 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 2: large underwater volcano eruption over the weekend. It was this 10 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:32,199 Speaker 2: volcano that triggered the tsunami warnings for most of Australia's 11 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:36,160 Speaker 2: East Coast. Australia's Minister for the Pacific zed Cceldia has 12 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 2: said that while there are no reports of mass casualties 13 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 2: as of yet, there is significant damage to property, roads 14 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 2: and bridges in Tonga. 15 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: We've seen several days of really high deaths reported in 16 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: New South Wales and Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has 17 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: warned that that is set to continue. That's because of 18 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,959 Speaker 1: the high level of community transmission in the state. According 19 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: to Chant, she said yesterday the key message is that 20 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: booster shots will improve protection. With just one person out 21 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: of the seventeen who died yesterday having had their booster, 22 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,319 Speaker 1: and I received mine on Saturday and am all the. 23 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 3: Better for it. 24 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,319 Speaker 2: You are very brave, Zara, Thank you. An annual report 25 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 2: on global inequality by Oxfam has found the wealth of 26 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 2: the world's ten richest people has more than doubled since 27 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 2: March twenty twenty, from seven hundred billion to a lazy 28 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 2: one point five trillion dollars. Have absolutely no idea how 29 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 2: many zeros that is. Over the same period of time, 30 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 2: the incomes of ninety nine percent of the world's population 31 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 2: has decreased because of lockdowns and other pandemic related costs. 32 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 1: Today's good news is a wonderful segue into our deep dive. 33 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: The Victorian government has received three million rapid antigen tests 34 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:52,559 Speaker 1: from a bulk order of forty four million. The rapid 35 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: tests will be prioritized for essential workers, including workers in 36 00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: the health system, emergency services, and disability in aged care services. 37 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 2: Well. Joined on the Daily OS today by journalist Tom 38 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:12,079 Speaker 2: Crowley's going to be talking us through the rapid antigen 39 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 2: test landscape in Australia. Tom. We heard some news from 40 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 2: the AH Triple C this week about them focusing in 41 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 2: on how much we're being charged for these things. What 42 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 2: did the AH Triple C. 43 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 3: Have to say? That's right, Sam, So of course it'll 44 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 3: be no surprise to anyone that rats are a little 45 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 3: bit hard to find at the moment. But as the 46 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:33,160 Speaker 3: ATRIPLEC pointed out this week, they're also in some cases 47 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 3: way more expensive than they should be. So what the 48 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 3: A Triple C said is that the price that suppliers 49 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,839 Speaker 3: are generally paying, the wholesale price is kind of only 50 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 3: around four to ten dollars. Earlier on in the pandemic, 51 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:47,880 Speaker 3: if you were buying safe from coals and woolies, that's 52 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 3: the kind of price that you get them for. But 53 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 3: as this sort of shortage has crept on through December 54 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 3: and January, the prices have been kind of creeping up 55 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 3: and up, and the A Triple C has got thousands 56 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:01,639 Speaker 3: of reports of really really really expensive tests. In one 57 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 3: case it was as much as two hundred and fifty 58 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 3: dollars per test, which is pretty huge, but quite a 59 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:08,359 Speaker 3: lot of examples of anywhere between kind of fifty and 60 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 3: one hundred dollars for a rat. And you might have 61 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 3: seen some of these doing the rounds on social media. 62 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 3: People getting charged huge amounts because they're really really desperate. 63 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 3: While the arip LEC has said that it's going to 64 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:20,959 Speaker 3: investigate to see whether that's not only just dodgy and 65 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 3: a bad look, but perhaps actually illegal, it's super clear 66 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 3: to me that these are really hot property that everybody 67 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 3: wants to get their hands on a rat. My question 68 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 3: to you is if there's a certain level of demand 69 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:38,839 Speaker 3: amongst consumers, and we live in a free market per se, 70 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 3: and demand and supply can kind of meet each other. 71 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:43,000 Speaker 3: I guess the question that I have for you is 72 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 3: that if people are willing to pay, however much to 73 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 3: get their hands on a rat, why is it an 74 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 3: issue that the market kind of sorts out its own price. Well, 75 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 3: this is a great question, right, and I think that 76 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 3: you could just ask, well, is this just business? Everybody 77 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 3: wants the rats, and so they're going to have to 78 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 3: pay more for them, and generally speaking, in most business 79 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 3: cases that would be true. Companies are able to decide 80 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 3: where they want to set their prices, and they have 81 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 3: the discretion to do that, but there are some lines 82 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 3: that they can't cross, and one of those lines is 83 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,160 Speaker 3: when it comes to kind of really important items or items, 84 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 3: particularly health items. Obviously, we know how important rats are 85 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 3: at the moment for a number of reasons that there 86 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 3: are kind of circumstances where the A Triple C can 87 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 3: determine that businesses are engaging in what's called unconscionable conduct, 88 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:33,719 Speaker 3: which essentially means that they've kind of crossed the line 89 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:36,840 Speaker 3: in terms of excessive price increases. And what's happened in 90 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 3: the last couple of weeks is that the federal government 91 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 3: has actually given them kind of additional teeth essentially to 92 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 3: crack down on this for rats specifically, So the government 93 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 3: introduced some changes that took effect last week that basically 94 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 3: prevent exactly this. So now suppliers can't have markups of 95 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 3: more than twenty percent on rats, and if they contravene that, 96 00:04:57,920 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 3: if the A Triple C finds that they have been 97 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 3: charging too much for rats, they can face even prison time. 98 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:05,039 Speaker 3: So the government's kind of cracked down on this, if 99 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 3: you like, in the last couple of weeks, and shown 100 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 3: that they take this very seriously and that they consider 101 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 3: it to be unconscionable and illegal. 102 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 2: And so built into that kind of regime is the 103 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,920 Speaker 2: idea that retailers can still make money off rats. They're 104 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 2: just kind of capping how much profit these companies can 105 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 2: make off a rapid antigen test. So what's being built 106 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 2: into that is the idea that you can still as 107 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 2: a retailer make money off a rapid antigen test. They're 108 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 2: still like a twenty percent leeway. What happened to the 109 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 2: idea of making rapid antigen tests free. I mean, we've 110 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 2: seen images online of rapid antigen test vending machines in 111 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 2: parts of Europe. We know that there's some cases in 112 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 2: Australia where you can get them for free. Has that 113 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 2: sort of argument been lost amongst this pricing discussion. 114 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 3: No, I think it's definitely still there, and it's something 115 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 3: that's probably been led by the state governments. The big 116 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:56,760 Speaker 3: problem at the moment, of course, is that across the 117 00:05:56,839 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 3: country we just don't have enough of them. So even 118 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 3: if tomorrow year said rats are free for everybody, there 119 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:04,840 Speaker 3: just wouldn't be enough to go around. And what we're 120 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 3: hearing from pharmacists, from supermarkets and from state governments themselves 121 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,479 Speaker 3: is that that problems likely to be around until about February. 122 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 3: So that's kind of problem number one. But state governments 123 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 3: have made some moves recently to make them free, at 124 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 3: least in high priority settings to begin with. So South 125 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:25,480 Speaker 3: Australia is one example of this. They're now giving two 126 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 3: rats for free to anybody who's deemed a close contact. 127 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 3: The Victorian government's made a really significant purchase. I think 128 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 3: they're expecting to get tens of millions of rats over 129 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,160 Speaker 3: the next few weeks, and they're going to distribute them 130 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 3: in particular to key workforces, but to a range of 131 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 3: different people who need them. And a number of states 132 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,359 Speaker 3: have started offering free tests at their clinics for people 133 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 3: who don't need to get a PCR test but might 134 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 3: qualify as contacts to get rats. So there are some steps. 135 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 3: I don't think that's been lost altogether, and I guess 136 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:56,160 Speaker 3: it's sort of a separate channel to this discussion about 137 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:58,720 Speaker 3: price gouging, But there are moves to make rats free. 138 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 3: The federal government has resisted doing that across the board 139 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 3: for everybody, but certainly it seems that state governments are 140 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 3: committed to get them into the hands of people who 141 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 3: need them as soon as they can. Okay, so let's 142 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 3: say you're a listener of the podcast, you walk into 143 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 3: your local chemist and you think that a rat is 144 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 3: looking particularly expensive today. What are the concrete steps that 145 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 3: we can all take now in light of these new regulations. 146 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,160 Speaker 3: It should be pretty clear now that the federal government 147 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,800 Speaker 3: has changed the law that exorbitant prices for rats are illegal, 148 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 3: and of course you're welcome to try and point this 149 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 3: out to anybody who's trying to charge you kind of 150 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:37,360 Speaker 3: huge amounts. The A Triple C has given us a 151 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 3: bit of a rule of thumb to kind of assess here, 152 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 3: and they say that basically anything above sort of thirty 153 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 3: forty fifty dollars for a rat is getting into territory 154 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 3: that's unlikely to be justified. So that can be used 155 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 3: as a bit of a rule of thumb, And if 156 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 3: you're in doubt, you can report a seller to the 157 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 3: A Triple C, and the A Triple C, if there's merit, 158 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 3: will investigate that. So they're kind of the options that 159 00:07:57,200 --> 00:07:59,120 Speaker 3: you've got. But as I say, that kind of rule 160 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 3: of thumb of kind of thirty dollars plus, that's definitely 161 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:04,480 Speaker 3: starting to become too much, So that's the kind of 162 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 3: figure that you should look out for. 163 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 2: It's clear that here in Australia the rat race will 164 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 2: continue for a couple of months yet, Tom Crowley, thanks 165 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 2: so much for joining us. If you want to keep 166 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 2: up to dated on all things rapid Answigen tests, we'd 167 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 2: love you to join us over on our Instagram. Even 168 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:21,720 Speaker 2: tell us how much an expensive rat is near you. 169 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 2: We're always interested in your stories. You can find us 170 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 2: on Instagram at the Daily OS. That's all we've got 171 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 2: time for today, though, Speak to you tomorrow and have 172 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:31,600 Speaker 2: a fantastic Tuesday.