The situation appears to be worsening with mange-affected wombats being commonly reported in other areas, such as Blessington, Bracknell, Westbury and so on.   What has happened at Narawntapu National Park can happen throughout the state because the government has not implemented an on-the-ground task force to treat wombats. Unless wombats can be urgently treated, then we can expect major population crashes to continue.  

IT IS heart-wrenching to read what Susan Gul, her daughter and their terminally ill relative had to endure when they presented at the LGH Accident and Emergency department (The Examiner, March 8). One cannot bear to think what the outcome may have been had they not been covered by private health insurance, as obviously the four public beds at the Melwood Unit were also full. Sadly this is not a one-off event. Constantly we are hearing of dying patients being ramped in ambulance bays, being accommodated for extended periods in the Emergency Department and, on at least one occasion, dying on a trolley in the corridor outside that department.

The staff do an amazing job to juggle acute emergency admissions and the terminally-ill and their families. The care they give is way beyond the call of duty. They are not miracle workers. They cannot allocate a bed to the dying person when there is not one available within the hospital. For 10 years we have been lobbying for a dedicated hospice within close proximity to the LGH. Health Minister Michael Ferguson has instead chosen to base his decision not to support such a facility on the feasibility study report, which found that current palliative and end-of-life care services in Northern Tasmania are adequate for the next two decades. Are you serious minister?

RODNEY Croome (The Examiner, February 21) is way off the mark when he defends the one-sided and out-of-date Hare-Clark voting system used in elections in Tasmania. The will of the people is not expressed in elections as he says because other people sitting for election give their preference votes to whoever they are directed to by their party not by what voters want them to do with them. Hare-Clark was first used in Tasmania in 1899 and is liked by politicians because it can be used to gain seats. For that reason and that reason alone is why they will never rid us of it.

WHILE watching a TV documentary recently I was surprised when the woman running the volunteers said “thanks for coming along guys”. Given that two were male and two were female, when did the term guys become a universal term for male and female? Some readers will remember an American musical called “Guys and Dolls”, now if that had been made in Australia it may have been called “Blokes and Sheilas”.

A friend who travelled on our TT-Line to Melbourne recently, the staff member in Melbourne picked up on his use of the word ‘sheila’ to describe a female of his acquaintance. He was told not to use that sort of language. My question is why not? The origin of the word is from an Irish girl’s name according to my Macquarie Dictionary and has been in use in Australia for as long as I remember.