Billion-dollar mRNA vaccine manufacturing deal secured with Moderna

By Denham Sadler A multi-billion-dollar deal between the Commonwealth, Victorian government and Moderna has been inked, with an mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility to be up and running by 2024. After signing an in-principle agreement with Moderna in mid-December, Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday morning announced there had now been a final agreement, with construction on the…

Australia wants a space industry. So why won’t we pay for the basic research to drive it?

By Phil Bland, Curtin University In the past few years, Australia has formed its own space agency and launched a defence “space command”. Billions of dollars for defence, and hundreds of millions for civilian space, have been allocated from the public purse to develop capability in this growing sector. This funding covers the Moon-to-Mars Program,…