That is what then Launceston General Hospital Medical Staff Association chair Dr Scott Parkes told a 1999 Civic Square rally protesting state government cuts to the Tasmanian health system.

Dr Parkes foreshadowed a health quagmire in which "waiting lists would blow out" as a result of $900,000 being ripped from the LGH's budget.

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The rally was held in response to the Howard federal government withdrawing almost $15 million funding from, and state government cuts to, health in Tasmania.

"In the last two years we have cut 30 to 40 beds out of our hospital and we have closed wards," Dr Parkes said at the rally.

Stroke victim Barbara Daly, who also spoke at the rally, broke down when discussing what the cuts meant to her.

"People's lives are being severely affected mentally and physically, and pensioners are suffering in silence," she said.

Meanwhile, a spate of safe-busting robberies were plaguing the North.

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Sites in Beauty Point, Swansea, Launceston, Strahan, George Town and Beaconsfield fell victim to the brazen burglaries with hundreds of thousands of dollars being snatched.

Such was the repetition of the robberies Tasmania Police feared it was the work of professionals. The thieves typically used oxy cutters to gain entry to the safes and at times even pinched the whole safe from the site.

"In most cases, security systems and alarms were disabled and telephone lines cut before a door or window was forced. Oxy-acetylene equipment was used to cut into the safes," The Examiner article read.

In sport, the cricket world could have been a starkly different place.

Ricky Ponting had just been involved in a pub brawl and consequently suspended for three matches. By the end of his suspension South Australian batter Greg Blewett was picked ahead of him for a President's XI match before a test series against the West Indies.

After the President's XI, Blewett was still picked for the West Indies tour and played in the first three tests before falling to injury.

From then on Ponting never looked back, hitting a ton in the fourth test and then playing in a World Cup win later in the year.

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