Liberal Senator for Victoria Sarah Henderson has raised concerns over a senate inquiry into a possible cancer cluster on the Bellarine Peninsula, which began on Friday.
Ms Henderson said the Victorian government’s assessment that there is no evidence of any cluster will “come under the microscope”.
Ms Henderson said she was concerned that data collected for the inquiry does not focus solely on the cluster’s epicentre, Barwon Heads.
“After reviewing the state’s methodology, I remain concerned that there has been no independent assessment of the epidemiological evidence solely for the Barwon Heads township,” Ms Henderson said.
“The Victorian government did not find that there was any higher rate of breast or liver cancer, leukaemia, multiple myeloma, brain cancers or non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads.
“However, by grouping the Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove populations together, the Victorian government has not assessed the historical incidence of cancer in Barwon Heads alone – which has a much smaller population –where any spikes in cancer rates would be more evident.
“The state government’s analysis combines the population of Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove which had a population of more than 18,000 people at the 2016 census.”
The inquiry comes after concerns were raised about a potential cancer cluster in Barwon Heads.
Barwon Heads resident Ross Harrison, who founded community group Discovery 3227, compiled and published on social media a ‘cancer cluster’ map of the town.
Mr Harrison has linked the claimed cluster to the former South Barwon Shire and Geelong City Council allegedly spraying with cancer-causing chemicals.
More than 80 residents who lived near Barwon Heads’ colloquially named ‘The Muddies’ reserve at the time of the spraying had contracted cancer or auto-immune diseases during the past 20 years, he has claimed.
Federal and state governments have said that an analysis of data has not found harmful levels of cancer-causing chemicals in the town.
The City of Greater Geelong also has dismissed the claims.
Member for Bellarine Lisa Neville said reviews showed no higher levels of cancer.
“Reviews by both the Department of Health and Human Services and Cancer Council Victoria found no higher rates of cancers
for the area compared with similar populations over similar timeframes, while exhaustive
soil testing found no concerning levels,” she said.
