Public health groups have joined with the ACT government to express their outrage at the Albanese government's decision not to include funding for an Australian Centre for Disease Control in last week's federal budget.
The plans had been drawn up and experts agreed the ACDC - a key election promise - must be built in Canberra. But the site earmarked for the new institution, on land near Civic purchased by the Australian National University, remains a light rail works depot and initial exploratory funding announced last year will run out in mid-2025.
"We need this now. Not after another pandemic hits the nation," ACT Minister for Population Health Emma Davidson told The Canberra Times.
