Illegal Victorian solariums still advertised on Gumtree, social media

A DECADE has passed since the death of anti-solarium campaigner Clare Oliver, but Victorians are still risking their lives, turning to social media and websites like Gumtree in the hunt for a tan.

ON THE 10th anniversary today of the death of anti-solarium campaigner Clare Oliver, cancer experts are urging Gumtree Australia to ban ads by people trying to cash in on the illegal sunbeds.

The 26-year-old captured the Australians’ attention in 2007 when she went public with her cancer battle, and urged people to stop using solariums.

Speaking from her hospital bed just days before she died, Miss Oliver asked people to “choose life. Choose to be fair”.

Clare Oliver captured the attention of Australians in 2007 when she went public with her cancer battle, and urged people to stop using solariums.

Miss Oliver’s mother, Priscilla, walks with a photo of her daughter after her funeral in 2007.

But a decade on, Victorians are still risking their lives for a tan, turning to social media and websites such as Gumtree and Craigslist in the hunt for backyard solariums.

Last month, Cancer Council Victoria and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre wrote to Gumtree Australia asking it to remove all solarium advertisements.

They have so far not received any response.

Cancer Council Victoria’s SunSmart Manager Heather Walker said online websites such as Gumtree Australia continued to provide a platform for individuals who are willing to pay for solarium services.

“While availability has reduced, advertisements continue to appear on Gumtree from people seeking solarium services within private homes,” Ms Walker said.

“It’s disappointing to see individuals providing a platform for a practice that is not only illegal, but has been responsible for the deaths of an estimated 43 Australians each year. Today, as we remember Clare’s fight, it seems especially senseless for any business to support people cashing in on these cancer-causing machines.”

In April, the Herald Sun went undercover and exposed the state's black market solarium business.

One of the sunbeds uncovered during an investigation earlier this year.

On Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services raided homes in Toorak, Greenvale and Northcote, seizing solarium beds, mobile phones and computers.

Earlier this year, the Herald Sun went undercover and exposed a flourishing black market solarium industry in which dilapidated solarium beds — some cracked and broken — were being rented out in bedrooms and garages.

DODGY SOLARIUMS SEIZED IN RAIDS

VICTORIANS USE DODGY ILLEGAL SOLARIUMS

Investigators from the Department of Health and Human Services raided a number of properties for solariums in May. Picture: Ian Currie

Investigators raid a Croydon property suspected of running an illegal solarium. Picture: Mark Stewart

Priscilla Oliver said of her daughter: “Clare’s legacy is a warning to people — don’t use solariums.

“I really want her legacy to carry on and for people to listen and know the harms of solarium use. This has been a difficult 10 years for me.”

Miss Oliver used a solarium more than 20 times when she was in her early 20s.

Battling end-stage melanoma and with only weeks to live, Miss Oliver used her remaining time to make certain other people understood the dangers of solarium use.

In the final weeks of her life, Miss Oliver’s story received significant public and media attention, and she achieved change when the state government announced the solarium industry would be regulated.

A backyard solarium discovered at a home in Melbourne.

Minister for Health Jill Hennessy said: “It deeply saddens me that on the 10th anniversary of the death of anti-solarium campaigner Clare Oliver, we are still talking about rogue operators breaking the law and flaunting illegal solariums.”

“Solariums are deadly cancer machines — that’s why we’ve banned them in Victoria,” she said.

Her message was clear to rogue operators: ”Do not try and run illegal solariums or we will come after you,” she said.

“For anyone with any information about alleged illegal solariums we urge them to contact the Health Department.”

The Herald Sun has contacted Gumtree Australia for comment.

SOLARIUM OWNER FIRES UP OUTSIDE COURT

CLARE’S LEGACY NATIONWIDE OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS

2007: Battling end-stage melanoma, Melbourne 26-year- old Clare Oliver shares her story with a warning to others to avoid solariums and tanning. Weeks later, she passed away.

2008: Victorian Government introduces regulations for solarium industry that require a licence for any person or business that possesses, sells or maintains tanning units. Study estimates each year in Australia, 281 new melanoma cases, 43 melanoma-related deaths, and 2,572 new cases of squamous cell carcinoma were attributable to solarium use

2009: The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) raises the classification of solariums to Group 1 carcinogen, alongside tobacco and asbestos. Victorian Government adopts Australian standard limiting the use of sunbeds to exclude people aged under 18 or with very fair skin (skin type I) and enforces the display of health warnings.

Clare Oliver with her mum.

2010: Victorian licence conditions updated to include proof-of-age records and skin check training for solarium operators.

2011: Cancer Council Victoria research finds 80 per cent Melbourne solarium operators aren’t complying with regulations and are instead allowing under 18s and people with skin type 1 to use beds.

2012: In February NSW Government announces plans for a commercial solarium ban, followed by South Australian Government in October and Tasmanian Government in November. In Victoria, leading health organisations including Cancer Council Victoria, AMA, Skin & Cancer Foundation Inc., Australasian College of Dermatologists campaign for a ban, which the Victorian Government announced in December.

2013: QLD Government also announces plans for a commercial solarium ban.

2015: NSW, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, ACT and QLD introduce a ban on commercial solariums from 1 January.

2016: First successful prosecution of illegal solarium operations in Victoria, with a fine issued for $68,500.