Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

That's what I said. When the health—

Senator McCarthy interjecting—

When the data is available, Senator McCarthy. I don't have in front of me the completion date for the Katherine testing, but it has been underway for some months now, so it will probably take, I would have thought, until towards the end of this year for the completion of that. But, when that data is available, the health experts will make the assessment on whether and how, if that is appropriate, blood testing is made available.

It's important to note, I think, that the expansion of the voluntary blood-testing program, the epidemiological study itself, needs to be based on scientific fact and on the scientific evidence that is achieved through the testing process. That is what we are pursuing at the moment, not just in Katherine, frankly, but in a number of other areas, as your counterparts in other chambers also know because their electorates are also impacted. This is a legacy problem, not just for Defence and not just for Australia. It is an enormous undertaking; in fact, I think the largest in the world currently. (Time expired)