National IV shortage reveals just how behind the curve the country is

For many an Australian, both political leader and the average man or woman in the street, the nation, in many ways, continues to be the very embodiment of the “Lucky Country” moniker.

With more than three decades of uninterrupted economic growth, buoyed by the voracious and seemingly limitless demands of neighbours across the Indo-Pacific, little has appeared to dampen our prosperity, security, and stability.

Despite this, it seems as though at every chance, the nation’s leaders have taken the opportunity to remind us that we “live in the most dangerous period since the Second World War” or some variation of that statement.

Across the globe we have seen mounting competition and tensions between the world’s superpowers, outright conflict in Europe and the Middle East, coupled with stagnating domestic economic opportunities and political division, and of course, the ongoing impacts of the shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic have all served to throw the global order into rapid decay.

Yet for the majority of Australians, life has continued on pretty much as normal despite a collapse in per capita wealth and periodic supply chain impacts affecting consumer goods and to a lesser extent, key industrial and economic inputs effectively lulling many Australians and our leaders into an enduring false sense of security and stability.

Now yes, there are some who will say COVID-19 demonstrated the ability of the nation and. in particular, key sectors of it to pivot in a time of emergency, “So let’s not get ahead of ourselves” when it comes to our vulnerability and fair point, but, I would offer this counter – the COVID-19 pandemic was relatively mild in terms of overall impact on the nation.

To this point, in recent weeks, we have learned that Australia is facing a severe shortage of intravenous fluid bags, which has seen the national pharmaceutical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), insisting that there is a “global supply shortage”, something strongly refuted by health organisations around the world.

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The TGA stated, “We are aware of shortages of multiple intravenous (IV) fluid products from all three Australian suppliers (Baxter Healthcare, B. Braun, and Fresenius Kabi) ... The shortages are due to multiple factors including global supply limitations, unexpected increases in demand, and manufacturing issues.”

In stark contrast, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told The Australian newspaper, “it had no major supply issues in relation to IV fluids, apart from certain sizes of bags”.

Across the ditch in New Zealand, the Kiwi pharmaceutical regulator Pharmac’s director of pharmaceuticals, Geraldine MacGibbon, also told The Australian it had “no supply issues” and stock was available at wholesalers, saying, “To make sure New Zealand does not experience similar issues, we are meeting with Baxter and Health New Zealand regularly to monitor New Zealand’s ongoing supply ... If we expect a supply issue will have an impact on people, we will take steps to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and keep the health sector informed.”

However, the rub really comes when it is revealed that New Zealand has a “virtual ­exclusive contract to supply the whole of its nation’s saline fluids with Baxter, and the drip bags are all manufactured in Baxter’s Sydney manufacturing plant”, so why can’t we seem to get it right and why aren’t Australians rightfully concerned about this latest “failure”?

What the hell is going on?!

This predicament is just the latest in a long running issue that faces the overall resilience, stability, and security of the nation both at the micro and macro levels.

If the world really is as dangerous and increasingly unpredictable as we are being told, why does Australia seem to continue to make the same mistakes like the issue with the IV supplies?

Since the end of the Cold War we have seen the steady decline in Australia’s economic and industrial resilience and diversity in favour of cheaper access to the global marketplace promoted by the advent of globalisation.

Yet we are consistently reminded that the nation faces an increasingly dangerous, unpredictable period ahead both in the Indo-Pacific and more broadly on the global stage, so once again, we have to ask, what the hell is going on?!

Equally, how do we arrest and reverse this period of decline? Because if we don’t, Australia as a nation and generations of Australians are going to face decades of economic, political, and strategic stagnation, decline, and danger unprecedented in scope and scale.

Final thoughts

For generations of Australians in the early to middle stages of their careers, at the time that they should be settling down and starting families, our system is unavoidably stacked against them.

Is it any wonder alternative methods of political engagement, policy making, and economics are attractive to people when they are promised the world for little to no effort?

At the same time, we have seen a corresponding rise of social, cultural dislocation, and disconnection coupled with individual aimlessness and the resulting impact on personal identity and mental health among younger Australians.

By helping to provide a rallying call – creating a compelling narrative full of excitement, opportunity, and purpose – policymakers can help reverse the trend of stagnation and decline, allowing Australians to turn the tide and build a resilient and competitive nation for this era of renewed competition between autarchy and democracy.

Equally, we must be focused on expanding and enhancing the opportunities available to Australians while building critical economic resilience, and as a result, deterrence to economic coercion should be the core focus of the government because only when our economy is strong can we ensure that we can deter aggression towards the nation or our interests.

If we are going to emerge as a prosperous, secure, and free nation in the new era of great power competition, it is clear we will need to break the shackles of short-termism and begin to think far more long term, to the benefit of current and future generations of Australians.

Get involved with the discussion and let us know your thoughts on Australia’s future role and position in the Indo-Pacific region and what you would like to see from Australia’s political leaders in terms of partisan and bipartisan agenda setting in the comments section below, or get in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..