Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

Studies show that cancer patients living in rural, regional or remote Australia are 35 per cent more likely to die within five years of a diagnosis relative to their metropolitan counterparts. The main driver of that dichotomy is, of course, access to services and the distance travelled to access them. The Limestone Coast, which is amongst my constituency, is a community of 65,000 people. To put it bluntly, postcodes should not be a factor of whether you survive cancer or not. It's why I advocated on behalf of the Limestone Coast community, way back in 2019, for the Limestone Coast to be included in the 2019 federal budget for funding to establish a radiation treatment centre. But, without state government support, a proposal like that is unworkable.

In my community, a petition is circulating. It's been circulating since 6 February. It calls on the state government to support the establishment of a radiation treatment centre in Mount Gambier. It's garnered, in a month, over 7,000 signatures, well on the way to 10,000 signatures. It's a credit to the community working party who organised it. We're going to collect that petition before Easter, which is in about a month, so, if you think the Limestone Coast deserves radiation treatment services, sign the petition. Our postcode shouldn't determine our future.

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