Tournament success
LAUNCESTON take a bow. Players at the recent international tennis event expressed that the treatment they received in Launceston was generally superior to many of the so called ‘minor’ events they have attended in the world. The organising committee should be praised for the manner in which they gathered together members of the tennis communities to take part.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Volunteers manned the gates and did a dozen other tasks around the courts, ball boys and girls did a sterling job and the players particularly appreciated the provision of the Audi courtesy cars and their willing drivers who did hundreds of trips to hotels, billets and to the airport making life easier for them and their stay in Launceston a memorable one. How great would it be if a clubhouse could be completed before the 2018 event?
Jim Witheford, Trevallyn.
Breast Cancer rise
EVERY day this year it is estimated that 48 women will be told they have breast cancer. That’s five more women every day than last year. Due to our ageing population the number of Australians set to receive a breast cancer diagnosis is on the rise.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Cancer in Australia 2017 Report projects that 17,770 people will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, compared to 16,084 in 2016. Of that number, 17,586 will be women and 144 will be men. As a leading breast cancer organisation, we had been anticipating that the number of Australians diagnosed with breast cancer would increase. This number is significantly higher than we expected.
It is, however, based on the increasing number of Australians diagnosed with breast cancer in recent years. This increase means the need for support and credible, evidence-based information is more important than ever. BCNA will continue to expand its programs, services and information resources as the number of Australians diagnosed with breast cancer increases, with new initiatives set to be launched in 2017. Breast cancer in women will be the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia this year, but every person diagnosed with breast cancer will have a different cancer journey. We continue to be committed to supporting and advocating for all Australian women and men affected by this disease.
Christine Nolan, Breast Cancer Network Australia CEO.
Telstra
THE weekend of February 11-12, St Marys and surrounding district of about 1200 souls, experienced an outage from Telstra resulting in two and half days of no internet connection. This is not the first time this inconvenience and cost to businesses has occurred. Had this happened in the central business districts of Sydney or Melbourne, or even Launceston, there would have been a mini revolution. In the unlikely event of this happening in these places it would have been hours or even minutes before being restored. It appears however that we are expendable. Over the past three years, Telstra has personally cost us hundreds of dollars and precious hours trying to get a problem fixed. Canada for instance, pays less than half we do for telecommunication services. And any problem is dealt with efficiently and immediately. So why are we in rural Australia treated like second class citizens?
Julia Weston, Seaview Farm, St Marys.
Centrelink
HOW IS it possible for Centrelink to overpay recipients by $300 million. Are there not enough staff to run checks of accountability with the Tax Office on a daily basis. Surely a program can be made to coordinate with the Tax Office. If a name with earnings is flagged, then it’s coordinated to check. Why is it so hard? Why does the check take five years? Why is $300 million of taxpayers money not carefully managed? How can innocent people be billed?