The western third of Victoria, from Mildura and Swan Hill along the Murray River in the Mallee, to the Wimmera, down to Warrnambool and Portland, is completely void of either a cancer care centre or an MRI machine.

The south-west has a greater population density than Gippsland according to this Australian Bureau of Statistics map.

Three to eight people per square kilometre live in the south-west region whereas in Gippsland the figure is only one to three.

Sale, Traralgon and Bairnsdale share a mobile MRI unit and Traralgon has its own integrated cancer care centre - William Buckland Radiotherapy Centre in Traralgon West.

This is despite Traralgon having a smaller population than Warrnambool as well as a lower population growth rate.

Traralgon is 20km closer to the nearest cancer care centre, in Melbourne, than Warrnambool is to Geelong. Cynics will suggest this is due to political pragmatism.

Traralgon is located in marginal political territory and situated close to the federal seat of McMillan which is a key battleground for the major parties.

It is also located near the highly marginal state seat of Bass, which partially replaced former independent MP Susan Davies seat of Gippsland West.

The Standard is not claiming that south-west cancer patients deserve an integrated centre over their Gippsland counterparts.

However, considering this statistical data, the federal government's argument that we don't have the population to support an improved service is neither water-tight nor fair.