An expert review has found Australia already had “more than enough” COVID-19 capacity before the Federal Government spent $200 million on Andrew Forrest’s tests.

In April, the government announced it had paid mining magnate and philanthropist Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest $200 million for 10 million COVID-19 PCR tests from the Chinese manufacturer Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI).

But Pathology Technology Australia, a lobby for manufacturers and suppliers of testing technology, says the announcement caught the Australian diagnostics industry by surprise.

Its review has found that the purchase also lacked transparency and came after a detailed audit that showed there was “more than enough technology already in the field”.

Reports say the take-up of the BGI tests has been patchy, with many state pathology bodies saying they did not need the tests.

This comes contrary to government claims that public health units would need the test kits throughout 2020.

Pathology Technology Australia members supply 90 per cent of all pathology tests and associated technology used in Australia, and while its chief executive Dean Whiting says the sector welcomes competition and diversity, the Australian government should learn from the deal with the mining boss.

“Probably the biggest misstep the government made in the Minderoo and in the lateral flow antibody tests is that they just didn’t adequately consult with the industry, and that really appears to shine through here. Just that lack of consultation,” he said.

“Where we have a problem here was that there was a complete lack of transparency upfront and a complete lack of consultation and discussion with how this would fit within the current laboratory setup that we have in Australia.

“We had completed and submitted a very detailed audit of the current technology already in Australian laboratories for this kind of testing, and we had determined there was more than enough technology already in the field to significantly ramp up testing.

“Where we lacked a little bit was that there was a tightness of supply of some of the crucial consumables … but that was being pretty well managed speaking frankly.”

Greg Hunt says it would have been “completely inappropriate” to consult the industry.

“The Australian government does not consult peak bodies on procurement contracts,” Mr Hunt’s spokesperson said this week.

“In particular it would have been completely inappropriate to consult Pathology Technology Australia on the purchase of BGI COVID-19 equipment and testing supplies given the Australian government was also in contract negotiations for COVID-19 equipment and testing supplies with key personnel on the Pathology Technology Australia board and their members.”

Pathology Technology Australia has also raised concerns about the government’s purchase of 1.5 million rapid antibody testing kits, which it says lacked transparency and appeared to misunderstand the limitations of rapid testing.

Mr Whiting said he could not understand why the government purchased antibody testing from companies that did not usually produce medical diagnostics.

“A lot of these products were not going to be deliverable, effective or viable, and we were constantly suggesting you stick to the mainstream suppliers who know what they’re doing, who have support structures in Australia, who can implement and roll out, rather than panic buy something from people who have no experience in this space,” he said.

“Why would you do that? Why would you buy a product from people who never had products in this space, who had no set-up in Australia, when you’ve got a perfectly viable association and industry in Australia already providing a lot of these kinds of products?

“Frankly I don’t understand why you would do that, why you would do it in such secrecy.”

This all comes after the Federal Government agreed to buy 500,000 COVID-19 antibody test kits from a company run by a convicted rapist and a former business partner of the services minister, Stuart Robert. The company also did not have any experience in medical diagnostics. It was later fined by the TGA for falsely claiming to have regulatory approvals.