Naracoorte’s Lachlan Haynes and his radiation treatment working party will be at Parliament House [on Thursday 4 May 2023] where their petition of 20,0000 signatures will spark a State Legislative Review Committee inquiry.

The petition calls for radiation treatment services to be available in the South East, and 20,000 people signed in less than three months.

It follows the 2019 work of Member for Barker Tony Pasin who ensured the Coalition Government committed $4.3m to purchase the equipment required for the Limestone Coast.

But four years on and cancer patients from around our region are still being forced to leave home and pay someone to look after their gardens, houses, pets and mail while away.

Cancer patients, at their own cost, then must travel to Adelaide or interstate and live there for the duration of their radiation therapy which is usually 15 minutes a day for two to three months.

Mr Haynes – who chairs the Limestone Coast Radiation Treatment Working Party – said he felt very proud, honoured and grateful that in less than three months 16,000 people had signed a hard copy of the petition and a further 4000 had signed digitally.

“Most people in the South East have been touched by cancer in some way,” Mr Haynes said.

“If not themselves, then a relative, a neighbour or even a person they do business with. It is such a cruel and insidious disease.

“Being able to have that 15 minutes a day of treatment in the Limestone Coast will make a huge difference.

“Not only to the patients having the radiation therapy, but also to the friends and relatives’ who cancer patients are reliant on to help them.”

Mr Haynes said radiation therapy meant weeks away from work, lost income, and a lot of travel and accommodation costs.

He said that hurts both patients and our economy financially.

“But more than that, it’s the social costs – the separation from family, friends and community support networks.”

Mr Haynes said he was looking forward to being with the other members of the working party when the petition was presented to the SA Parliament’s House of Assembly by the State Opposition.

Any petition of 10,000 signatures automatically triggers a Legislative Review Committee inquiry.

Such an inquiry reports on the matters contained in the petition for the attention of the relevant minister. In this case, Health Minister Chris Picton.

That report is then presented to both the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly.

The responsible minister in each House is then required to table a response and make a statement outlining what, if any, action is to be taken in relation to the petition.

Mr Haynes said he was grateful to all the people who had signed the petition.

“Health Minister (Chris) Picton has not agreed to meet with the working party in Limestone Coast to discuss the matter,” Mr Haynes said.

“But thanks to the petition being over 10,000 signatures we are assured that our voices will be heard because at the very least the minister is required to respond to the committee’s report in parliament.”

This article appeared in the Naracoorte Community News.

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