Cancer cluster inquiry to hear from experts this month

AN INVESTIGATION into a potential cancer cluster on the Bellarine will move to the next stage, with experts to provide evidence later this month.

The Senate referred an inquiry on the possible cluster to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee in October 2019.

The inquiry was sparked by fears from some locals that a cluster of cancer cases in the Barwon Heads area were specifically linked with the City of Greater Geelong’s mosquito spraying program from the early 1980s onwards.

The committee held a public hearing on May 1 ahead of a reporting date of August 12.

The investigation has since been widened to include cases up to 2001 and the addition of a second public hearing, and the reporting date has been extended again, first to November 26 and then to the last sitting day in March 2021.

The committee’s website states the second hearing will be public and face-to-face, but this will not occur until “it is safe to do so” and in compliance with coronavirus restrictions.

“The focus of this second public hearing will be to receive evidence from individuals and community organisations.

“As evidence from this second public hearing will be a vital part of the inquiry, the committee will not report to the Senate until it has held this second public hearing and considered the evidence received.”

This week, a spokesperson from the committee said the inquiry intended to hold a public hearing via videoconference at the end of November “to hear principally from scientific experts”.

“It is still the committee’s intention to hold a public hearing on the Bellarine Peninsula; and as restrictions ease, the committee will work towards settling a date for this hearing ahead of its March 2021 reporting date.”

The inquiry had bipartisan support ahead of the 2019 federal election, and Corangamite Labor federal member Libby Coker and Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson both welcomed the widening of the investigation in May.