Cancer hearing to be set

A SECOND hearing for a Senate inquiry into a possible cancer cluster along the Bellarine will be held locally.

“We have committed to having a hearing in the region,” a spokeswoman for inquiry chair Senator Rachel Siewert said. “Given the situation in Victoria, at this stage we do not have a firm date for that hearing.”

A parliamentary investigation into residents’ claims of the cluster was pledged by both sides of federal politics during the 2019 federal election.

The first hearing, held in Canberra in May, heard a Cancer Council investigation did not find evidence of a cancer cluster in the areas around Barwon Heads.

The findings were attacked by Geelong-based Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson and local group Discovery 3227, who claimed the report did not analyse significant data during the time frame of community concern.

Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton said he was happy for the study to be extended to include earlier cases, dependent on feasibility.

Local residents claim the region has an increased rate of cancer and related illnesses, which they believe is linked to a mosquito spraying program conducted from the 1980s to 1990s.

The group claims more than 80 residents who lived near the region’s reserve contracted cancers or auto-immune diseases over the past 20 years.

Another hearing date, where further submissions from residents are expected to be heard, is yet to be confirmed.