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.
Australian Medical Association president Steve Robson said he was "shocked" that last week's budget did not include any funding for the promised ACDC, which "must be built in Canberra".
"We think that the government needs to clarify this and reassure Australians that they're still on track to deliver the ACDC that we need," Professor Robson said.
Independent ACT senator David Pocock called on the Albanese government to "get on with establishing" the ACDC in Canberra.
An Australian CDC, based on the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to respond and prepare for public health emergencies, was a key recommendation of the COVID-19 Senate inquiry chaired by Canberra senator Katy Gallagher - now the Finance Minister - while in opposition.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to establish one if elected in 2022, but hopes are dwindling that he will deliver it this term.
"Australia needs reassurance that this is going ahead and the radio silence we've heard is extremely alarming," Professor Robson said.
Ms Davidson said the Australian community "rightfully expects the federal government to deliver on projects they have promised and committed funding to".
"In the ACT, we are seeing more transmission of RSV and influenza," she said.
"There are diseases that are impacting our community now and we need the federal government to have delivered this yesterday."
An interim ACDC quietly began operations within the Department of Health on January 1, with Australia's chief medical officer Professor Paul Kelly as temporary head and with initial funding of $90 million.
Public Health Association of Australia chief executive Associate Professor Terry Slevin said the slow progress was disappointing.
"I am concerned it seems a very scaled-down entity from what we saw in the election commitment," he said.
"We continue to have very high aspirations with hundreds of millions, not tens of millions, needed."
ANU Dean of Health and Medicine Professor Russell Gruen, who has been driving the university's push to build a world-leading national health precinct, said there was now "widespread agreement across the country" that the ACDC should be located in Canberra.
"A national capability like this does need to be in Canberra, where it can access all aspects of government [and] the diplomatic community," Professor Gruen said.
"It can equally and fairly reach out to all the states and territories effectively to access the expertise that exists around the country."
A spokesperson for Health Minister Mark Butler said the government remained committed to establishing an Australian CDC, but was "taking a phased approach to establishment".
"[This] will allow for the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic to inform the design," the spokesperson said.
An independent inquiry into Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic is due to report by September 2024.
In the meantime, the interim CDC would work to "enhance Australia's national health emergency planning and preparedness, strengthen partnerships ... and improve the delivery of national public health advice" while design work continued.
