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A clear majority of Australians want authorities to subsidise rapid antigen tests or make them free for everyone, with 65 per cent of voters also saying the federal government is most responsible for ensuring coronavirus test supplies.

With testing centres under pressure and pharmacies unable to meet demand, 33 per cent of Australians believe the rapid tests should be free for all and another 16 per cent think they should be free for vulnerable people or those on low incomes.

Most voters believe rapid antigen tests should be free or subsidised in some way.Credit:Adobe

Another 22 per cent believe the rapid antigen tests, or RATs, should be subsidised for all while 15 per cent want the kits to be subsidised for those in need.

As a political fight escalates over test shortages and price gouging, the exclusive findings show 86 per cent of Australians believe the rapid tests should be free or subsidised in some way.

The conclusions, in the Resolve Political Monitor conducted for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, show clear support for government action to fix the test shortage, with only 7 per cent saying people should have to buy the kits without a subsidy.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed calls to make the kits wholly free but Labor leader Anthony Albanese has accused the government of failing to make them widely available before Omicron struck.

“These tests should be free. That’s Labor’s position. And they should be made available to people so that the economy can function, so that people can go to work and so that they can do so safely,” Mr Albanese said on Tuesday.

Health Minister Greg Hunt attacked the Labor leader for calling for changes that would put pressure on the supply of test kits and divert resources from critical health services.

“It is a very dangerous and irresponsible policy,” he said, adding that state and territory authorities did the principal work on testing.

The political fight over the RAT shortage comes as voters cut their support for Mr Morrison over his handling of the pandemic, slashing the Coalition’s primary vote from 39 to 34 per cent and lifting Labor to a strong position ahead of the federal election due by May.

The Resolve survey found 65 per cent of voters believed the federal government was most responsible for securing test kit supplies.

Only 19 per cent of voters said the states and territories should be “the most responsible for securing enough COVID tests” while 6 per cent said it was up to pharmacists and other retailers to get the shipments.

Employer groups such as the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry have urged the Morrison government to make the tests free for essential workers, while ACTU national secretary Sally McManus warned on Tuesday that workers could not be expected to work without more kits.

“We have been calling for rapid antigen tests to be freely and widely available for Australians, small business and other industry settings since September last year,” said ACCI chief Andrew Mackellar last week. “The government must re-double its efforts to procure the supply Australia needs.”

Mr Hunt said free tests for all were as unnecessary as Labor’s earlier idea of paying people $300 to be vaccinated, arguing the community had reached a 95 per cent double-dose vaccination rate among people aged 16 and over without needing the Labor payment.

The government pays half the cost of the rapid antigen tests given to people free of charge at state and territory testing hubs, saying this shows it is subsidising the kits. Labor has not costed its proposal for free tests.

Mr Hunt cited work done for Finance Minister Simon Birmingham that estimated a $13 billion annual cost to give people 10 free tests every quarter in a scheme open to all Australians aged five and over. This assumed a cost of about $12 to $15 for each test.

The government has chosen instead to offer 10 free tests every quarter for 6.6 million concession card holders from January 24, although it is not supplying the tests to pharmacies.

Asked if the government had failed last year by not seeing the need for a bigger supply of kits, Mr Hunt said the market had provided 5.6 million tests to its areas of responsibility including the aged care sector.

“We were in the market early – we were in the market of August last year,” he said.

The Western Australian government only lifted its ban on RATs on January 10 while the South Australian government did so on December 24.

Lumos Diagnostics executive chairman Sam Lanyon revealed last month he and others took a plan to federal and state governments in 2020 to manufacture rapid tests in Australia but said they were turned away and chose instead to produce millions of kits for the United States market.

“I guarantee you we would have had manufacturing in Australia already,” Mr Lanyon said. “We would have been producing tests in Victoria, and we would have been shipping them nationally.”

In a sign of the burden on the testing regime from Omicron infections, the Resolve survey found 53 per cent of respondents said they had done a coronavirus test at some point in the pandemic and that almost half of this group had done so in the last month.

The Resolve Political Monitor was conducted from January 11 to 15 and asked 1607 voters their views in online questions put in a random order to avoid a “donkey vote” with the results.

On the responsibility for testing, the survey asked: “Which one of the following do you think should be most responsible for securing enough COVID tests to meet demand?” It gave respondents four options: the federal government, state and territory governments, pharmacists and other retailers or an undecided option.

On rapid tests, the survey explained what RATs were and said there was a debate about whether they should be free or subsidised. Offering five main options, it asked whether voters thought the RATs should be bought by people without subsidy, subsidised for vulnerable and low-income people, subsidised for all, made free for vulnerable and low-income people or made free for all. It also offered an undecided option, which was chosen by 8 per cent of respondents.

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