The Morrison government's long dormant COVIDSafe contact tracing app has been consigned to the virtual trash bin with the Albanese government revealing it traced just two unique COVID cases over two years for a cost to taxpayers of $10.5 million each.
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Australians with the app installed on their devices are now being urged to uninstall the now decommissioned app, once described by Scott Morrison as the early "ticket" out of lockdowns and as essential as sun protection.
Describing COVIDSafe as "wasteful and ineffective", Health Minister Mark Butler said the app had cost $21 million to keep switched on since it was launched in April 2020, but had independently found only two positive cases and just 17 close contacts.
"This failed app was a colossal waste of more than $21 million of taxpayers' money," Mr Butler said in a statement.
"This is a trademark of the former government, which treated taxpayer's money like their own.
"The former prime minister said this app would be our 'sunscreen' against COVID-19 - all it did was burn through taxpayer's money."
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Figures provided by the Health department show the COVIDSafe app was barely used by the Australian public.
Despite the initial push by the Morrison government to get Australians to sign up as well as repeated upgrades, there were widespread privacy concerns regarding data collection.
Last year a secret report on the $8 million COVIDSafe app, handed to former health minister Greg Hunt, warned contact tracers were finding the government's early technological solution to controlling outbreaks was not helping.
It can now be revealed there were a total of 7.9 million registrations of the COVIDSafe app between April 2020 and May 2022, however fewer than just 800 users consented to their data being added to the National COVIDSafe Data Store for contact tracing.
The breakdown of the $21 million cost to taxpayers shows more than $10 million was spent in developing the app, a further $7 million was spent on advertising and marketing, $2.1 million went on upkeep while more than $2 million paid for staff.
A week ago, Mr Butler signed a notifiable instrument declaring the app "no longer required to prevent or control; the entry, emergence, establishment or spread" of COVID-19 - an official act leading to the initiative's decommissioning.
Late on Tuesday, Australians with the app installed on their devices were notified that COVIDSafe was being decommissioned, and to uninstall it, as it was no longer "being used to assist health officials with contact tracing."
Push notifications and SMS texts will be sent to any remaining users.
All data collection will now cease and the Health Department is working to delete all COVIDSafe app data as soon as possible.
It has been promised that no COVIDSafe app data will be retained.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner is now charged with assessing the COVIDSafe app information management requirements.
The Health Department said the last upload of data from users to the National COVIDSafe Data Store occurred in May 2021 and no state or territory has tried to access data since January 2022.
When the app was revealed, Mr Morrison described COVIDSafe as "your ticket" to a COVID-safe Australia.
"I would liken it to the fact that if you want to go outside when the sun is shining, you have got to put sunscreen on," he said in April 2020.
"This is the same thing ... If you want to return to a more liberated economy and society, it is important that we get increased numbers of downloads when it comes to the COVIDSafe app.
"This is the ticket to ensuring that we can have eased restrictions."
It was described by the then Health Minister Greg Hunt as a critical tool to help protect the health of the community.
"If you'd been exposed, you'd want to know, wouldn't you?" he said.
But the COVIDSafe app has quickly become irrelevant and has now been slated for wide scale deletion.