Page 3423 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 13 October 1993
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The Government has been at pains in this budget to realign our concessions regime somewhat to ensure that it is fairer and that concessions are available to people who need them most. We also have been able to expand those concessions. I will, as I say, get Mr Humphries a detailed answer on the particular question that he has asked, but I think that members can readily understand the thinking behind the Government's move to change this particular exemption regime.
MR HUMPHRIES: I ask a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. The figures that the Treasurer has given indicate that something like 2,400 homes use diesel fuel for heating. The figures that she has supplied indicate that that comes to something like 3.5 million litres of diesel in the last 12 months alone. On 16 September she told Mrs Carnell:
... my advice is that there are a very small number of Canberra homes that use diesel fuel for home heating.
Would you concede that you misled the Assembly by describing 2,400 homes in the ACT as a very small number?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, no, I think I was absolutely correct in describing that couple of thousand homes, out of the total ACT homes of over 100,000, as being a very small proportion. It is.
Cancer Deaths
MS ELLIS: Madam Speaker, my question is directed to the Deputy Chief Minister in his capacity as Minister for Health. Could the Minister comment on recent media reports that the ACT has an above average rate of death of women from cancer?
MR BERRY: I thank Ms Ellis for the question. Madam Speaker, the Australian Bureau of Statistics usually releases single-year estimates of deaths. Given the small numbers in the ACT, a more reliable five-year average suggests that deaths from cancer for females in the ACT are no different from the Australian average. This comparison was made after adjusting for the young population in the ACT. The most recent ABS publication on causes of death also confirms this finding. If you look at a graph of what has happened you can see that, because of the small numbers in the ACT, it alters fairly wildly. The most recent ABS publication on causes of death also confirms that finding.
Mrs Carnell: If you had a proper cancer registry - - -
MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell says that if we had a cancer registry that would help. Well, it does not help. It is the small number of people in the ACT that wildly skews the figures. That is the problem, not the cancer registry. So that is another little lesson.
In relation to specific parts of the body, age-standardised five-year averages show that the top three cancer killers for females in the ACT do not occur at a higher rate than found nationally, with the biggest cause of cancer death being breast cancer. Males are also similar to the Australian average in their age-adjusted death rates, although death from lung cancer, the biggest cancer killer
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