THE ACT government will continue to have rapid antigen tests (RATs) available through schools, but on an as-needed basis for the remainder of this term.
Early childhood staff will also have continued access to RATs, under the same distribution arrangements, including increased distribution in response to an increase in cases reported at the school.
For the first eight weeks of term 1, all school staff and students were given two free RATs a week.
The government says each school will have processes in place to ensure families, teachers and volunteers have RATs accessible on request, should they need them, and schools will communicate directly with families about how they can access RATs for the remainder of the term.
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![Teacher Vanessa Jones has been living in Higgins since 2001, and while she loves the area, she says she is “fed up” with the neglectful ACT government.
The Higgins shops have been completely abandoned, says Vanessa, preventing the opportunity for residents to have a community-centred space to socialise.
They only received bins nine months ago, she says, and requests for a water station and repairs to the bus station have gone unanswered.
“It’s very, very slow,” says Vanessa.
“I asked for the zebra crossing on Fullagar [Crescent] to be repainted, and we had to wait about six or nine months.
“That’s just such a long time… we pay a lot of rates.”
Vanessa says assistance from the government only seems to go to communities with time-rich and assertive communities, leaving places such as Higgins, where the majority of households have both adults working full-time and English may not be the first language of the family, at an automatic disadvantage.
“If you’ve got two people working, paying a mortgage, raising two or three kids, they don’t have the time,” says Vanessa.
Vanessa says the lack of attention quieter places such as Higgins is receiving is starting to look a lot like favouritism.
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