Page 1594 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 19 May 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
The breast screening clinic is a new program, but it is expected that it will reduce the mortality from breast cancer by 30 per cent in the screened population. The cervical screening program, which is part of the organised approach to the prevention of cancer of the cervix, supports health workers in their roles of taking pap smears. It will set up a cervical cytology register and run education and recruitment campaigns for women. The program aims to increase the number of women having two-yearly pap smears, to provide support and training for service providers, to monitor the quality of the program and ultimately to reduce the number of deaths from cervical cancer. Mrs Carnell suggests that nothing much else is going on. Heaps is going on, and it is all happening under Labor government. We have made more advances than - - -
Mrs Carnell: I did not say that you did not.
MR BERRY: Why did you not draw attention to the phenomenal advances that we have made in the ACT since the Labor Government took office? No, you would not do that because it would not help you politically, and it would be a full supply of correct information to the community - and you have never been famous for that.
The Community Nursing Service has specialist oncology nurses who provide a service to patients with cancer in the community. We are drawing all of these issues to the attention of the community. The palliative care program provides a nursing service for patients with terminal malignancies who wish to remain in their homes. The Government, of course, has committed itself to a hospice. The Alcohol and Drugs Service runs programs which emphasise the Government's commitment to discourage tobacco smoking and to reduce passive smoking, both of which are major contributors to lung cancer and other respiratory tract cancers. So this Government has made massive moves.
The Government has taken strong action to reduce tobacco related harm, including banning most remaining forms of tobacco advertising, raising the minimum age of people who may buy tobacco to 18, restricting the availability of vending machines and increasing cigarette prices - all aimed at reducing cancer in the community. We have done this at a time of shrinking budgets, as a result of Commonwealth funding, and rebuilding our hospital system. There is massive work going on in the ACT community to provide better health in the community, both in treatment and in health promotion.
Increased cigarette prices have generated funds to provide a program which can prevent the occurrence of cancer in the first place. The Government also proposes to introduce smoke-free enclosed public places and workplaces and to introduce a new strengthened set of health warnings on tobacco products. I notice that the Liberals in Victoria are resisting the new health warnings that were adopted in MCDS. Shame on the Liberals! What are you doing about that, Mrs Carnell?
Mr De Domenico: The Victorian Liberals.
MR BERRY: They are all the same, all tarred with the same brush. They are all big "L" Liberals. We saw you people kowtowing to Dr Hewson in the Federal election. Then, immediately it was over, you were all distancing yourselves from him, all treating him like a leper. I know what a Liberal looks like - big "L", blue - - -
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .