Examiner Weekly Wrap: What made news this week?

The stories might have been big news, or tales that might have slipped through the cracks.

We appreciate some readers might only get to sit down with the paper on a Sunday, with their pancakes steaming fresh alongside a hot cuppa, or on the couch in their pyjamas.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The past week was typified by state election announcements from all sides of government. These stories dominated the pages as we strove to provide our readers with information about how their vote in the upcoming election may impact them.

Outside of the election, stories central to the North, and North-West, Tasmanian communities held spots within The Examiner and The Advocate. Here are five that stood out to us.

Strangulation report

On Sunday The Examiner revealed there had been at least 36 cases heard in Tasmania's Supreme Court since July 2019 where strangulation was a factor in the charges being faced.

The significance of the story came in the context that in July 2019, coroner Olivia McTaggart recommended Tasmania consider introducing an "indictable offence of choking".

The state government had been in the midst of a Sentencing Advisory Council (SAC) report into the offence but the report was overdue. There was feeling among the sector that regardless of the report a stand-alone offence for strangulation would not be forthcoming.

Two days after the report, the Tasmanian Liberals made a policy announcement that they would "strengthen" non-fatal strangulation laws based on the receipt of the SAC report.

Then, on Thursday at The Examiner's Premier Debate, Premier Peter Gutwein, along with Labor counterpart Rebecca White, explicitly committed to legislating about the offence should they win the state election.

The commitment was later heralded by family violence advocacy groups and key players.

Another LGH debacle

On Tuesday another story of apparent shortcomings at the Launceston General Hospital emerged.

This time, it was an 87-year-old man with pneumonia having to sit in a plastic chair in the emergency waiting room for nine hours.

The man's granddaughter, Jessie Lincoln, felt compelled to tell the story because of not only the distress is caused her grandfather, but the impacts it had on nurses and other hospital staff.

"Even though the nurses are absolutely stretched and working under ridiculous and overwhelming conditions, they are just amazing," she said.

"These conditions are just not meeting the needs of our population."

A Tasmanian Health Services spokesperson said the triage system the LGH followed was in line with "internationally-consistent" protocols. Tasmanian Department of Health information showed 49 per cent of patients in the LGH ED departed within the four hour timeframe in October, November and December last year.

This is despite there being a "standard benchmark" of a four-hour wait for the operations of emergency departments.

Health Minister Sarah Courtney addressed the man's story admitting there was "clearly" more needing to be done to fix the LGH woes.

Skinny staffy subject of court case

Earlier in the week, Tiarna Maree Airey and Shawn Leigh Brown were unrepresented by council when they pleaded not guilty in the Launceston Magistrate's Court to charges of cruelty to animals, one count of continuing to cruelty to animals and one count of failure to comply with conditions for rehoming of dogs.

The court heard that a Staffordshire bull terrier Zoe was emaciated and weighed 9.7kg when seized on October 31, 2019 and that the dog was about half its healthy weight and had grass, rags and string in its faeces when seized by the RSPCA.

The eight-year-old dog, which had given birth to eight pups, was given a condition score of 1-1.5 out of five with little muscle mass, ribs prominent, tucked up abdomen and a sunken temple region.

The pair's case was adjourned until May 13.

Felix Ellis faux pas

Liberal MP Felix Ellis, who is currently seeking re-election, was called out on social media on Sunday for a post criticising "vegan food".

The fallout of his decision to caption a photo of him eating a sausage in bread, with a Gladys Berejiklian style eye purse, "Allergies: vegan food" garnered national interest when commenter Gracie Mitchell questioned Mr Ellis' "Liberal values".

Mr Ellis was slammed by the social media horde for his response: "While I think vegan food is unethical I don't think it should be illegal".

Commenters questioned how Mr Ellis' comments would be taken by the farming industry who are part of the supply chain for vegan food.

The post now has 1000 reactions, of which over 50 per cent are critical.

Premier's Debate

A huge day on The Examiner election calendar saw current Premier Peter Gutwein take on opposition leader Rebecca White in a debate ahead of the state election.

The debate was disrupted by protesters calling for climate change policy to be announced and voters to stand-up and call for better policy in the area before making their choice on May 1.

Aside from the protesters, the potential Premiers were put through their paces by The Examiner editor Courtney Greisbach who asked questions of their policies on issues including Tamar river woes, health and housing.

As has been the case in the election campaign so far, the points were fairly evenly split.

The Examiner journalist Adam Holmes surmised that Ms White's tactic to "speak from the heart" in her closing remarks was well received by the audience.

"Few things cause political minders to panic more than when their leader tries to go off-script," he wrote.

"But the public yearns for these moments as a reminder that politicians are human too."

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