I have never been less than deeply impressed in my years at Melwood by the dedication and professionalism of its specialised medical and nursing staff as well as my fellow trained, caring body of volunteers.

With 15 dedicated beds, I have never been aware of any rigid demarcation line between public and private patients.

Needs are met as they arise.

The seemingly constant niggling denigration of Melwood as a wholly effective hospice and palliative care unit by some sections of the community, I find offensive to both staff and volunteers.

The recent independent feasibility study of hospice care needs in the North was comprehensive, inclusive and conclusive and needs to be treated with respect.

Societal needs are changing with coming generations pressuring strongly for choices in dying.

In my experience preference is always to die in the familiar – whether at home, in the familiar nursing home or similar. Palliative care is portable, a stand-alone hospice is not. 

Palliative care can open paths to community as a whole to realise their wishes. I for one have no wish to be dragged back to an 18th century model of a hospice environment.

We need to move forward towards the anticipated needs and varied choices of the dying in the 21st century. It is not for us, the undying, to make those decisions for them.

That this whole debate over venues for the dying is now being used as a political football, tossed about for political advantage, is nothing short of a disgrace.

I AM appreciative of the fact that Bert Lawatsch (The Examiner, June 23) recognises that Australian cattle live a contented life. However I cannot understand that their lives are any more precious than the lives of cattle from any other country. If Australia was to cease the live trade to Vietnam, the the Vietnamese would continue to purchase live cattle from elsewhere. Obviously Australia would lose the market and cattle would continue to be treated in this abhorrent manner. The answer is education not to stop the trade, perhaps as foreign aid Australia could undertake education as part of the aid to third world countries. It is naive to think that Australia has a monopoly on this trade.

JEREMY Rockliff’s comment (The Examiner, June 22) that the idea to extend all Tasmanian high schools to years 11 and 12 sooner than was anticipated was not driven by government but by communities is, at best, disingenuous.

High schools had on average two teachers stripped from them for the start of the 2015 school year as did our primary schools.

This year the teachers in the primary schools were returned but nothing was done for high schools. In desperation, principals at many high schools have needed to evaluate their options and bribery is persuasive.

Without enrolling any students, agreeable high schools receive an additional teacher, $10,000 for the transition and for up to the first 30 students an additional 0.5 or 0.6 of senior staffing allocation.

But there’s more.

As examples, Cressy District High is one of 18 rural and urban schools to be extended to grades 11 and 12 in 2017 and it is receiving a $1.7 million upgrade for flexible learning environments. Huonville welcomed the outpouring of money for Y11-12 as a new Early Learning Centre was opened in 2016 with the old kindergarten used to house their Y11-12 students.