I had just arrived in Tasmania the day before with my daughter and son in law when the unexpected happened.

I opened my eyes and there was a lovely lady seated on the ground beside me and a gentleman easing my confusion.

Many more people gave freely of their time and were so kind and gentle.

An ambulance trip too and stay in Launceston General Hospital followed, where expert treatment and care was given to me. These strangers will always have a warm and special place in my heart.

Thank you, everyone.

Gladys Holmes, Sydney.

I AM pleased to see articles by Dr John Hewson. His articles appear to be even-handed and based on sound knowledge. His objectivity and balance are frequently absent from other commentators. Even attribution is invariably absent.

There seems to be an enormous amount of emphasis being placed, by some politicians and media, about the cost of everything. Cost Modelling is about misleading people - knowingly or unintentionally. This may be cynical, but assumptions do need to be made about unknowns.

Dr Richard Denniss, of the Australia Institute, suggests the assumptions could include: 'how far and how fast the cost of renewable energy and battery storage will fall; how far and how fast the cost of electric cars will fall; how quickly firms that face higher energy prices will adapt by increasing their efficiency; how the introduction of new sources of electricity generation and storage will disrupt the business models of today's highly profitable electricity 'retailers', how regulation of energy prices will increase or decrease the monopoly profits of energy and petrol companies; how much the trend to household electricity generation and storage will increase the efficiency of the national grid by reducing problems with seasonal peaks in demand; whether the batteries of electric cars will be a form of free storage for the national grid; how long it will take for autonomous vehicles to transform car ownership and use."

Maybe Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen are being honest. The few successful climate change countries have got on with it.

Dennis Holzberger, Exeter.

AGRICULTURAL companies could charter a bus to pick up workers from the city, instead of employing backpackers. The cost of transport could be deducted from their wages.

Leon Cooper, Longford.

ONE of the best features of having The Examiner in the Fairfax (Nine, Catalano) group has been the daily delight of the cartoon from the likes of David Rowe, Cathy Wilcox and David Pope. Pope's cartoon in (The Examiner, May 3) comparing climate change to the threat of Nazi Germany was sheer genius. Time spent in Europe with access only to British papers demonstrated for us how far ahead of the international pack our brilliant cartoonists are. We should treasure them - long may they continue to prick the pomposity of our politicians.

Tony Walker, Dilston.

TODAY while walking past LGH there were ambulances ranked up (eight at least) on Charles Street waiting to offload patients into casualty.

I am sure there is no one among us that would want to be in this situation.

Although this problem will not just be fixed by throwing money at it, extra funding will make a difference.

It is so easy to take our health for granted but health problems will impact all our lives. Perhaps it's time to have a reasoned conversation about how we fund health in Australia. As we head to an election promising tax cuts for most by both the major parties can we afford both tax cuts and improved health services?

Perhaps it is time for us to ask what sort of Australia do we want.

Spendthrift governments of all persuasions seeking re-election have wasted almost three decades of economic growth.

Mark Scott, Launceston.

TASMANIA Fire Service, PWS, STT and the state government all apologise for deliberately causing toxic smoke when they plan burn (The Examiner, May 4).

I assume they are apologising to all the young and elderly; those who have asthma, COPD and cancer and all the others who will contract diseases as a result of their smoke?

Are they apologising for a health service which cannot manage these diseases even now, let alone as numbers grow following exposure? It is criminal to smother Tasmania with deliberate carcinogenic smoke.

Why? Bureau of Meteorology has developed a smoke and air quality forecasting system (AQFx) for forecasting smoke and air quality in Tasmania.

I am told, "The system can predict smoke from Tasmania burns prior to the burn taking place as well as smoke from existing planned burns or wildfires."

So there is no excuse to be breathing their smoke which is 12 times more likely to cause cancer than the same amount of tobacco smoke"- William Pryor, PhD, University of Louisiana.

Clive Stott, Grindelwald.