It seems it is an all too common occurrence that people arrive at a destination from interstate who do not have the correct permits to enter, particularly by air.

This, as can be illustrated by the latest case of a person that originated in Sydney arriving in Tasmania without a permit.

While this was picked up very quickly by bio-security officers at the airport, this was probably not before many others on this flight had already left the airport by many and varied modes of transport to either go home to friends and family or into local accommodation where they would mix with many other people. Not to mention the probable stop at a supermarket on their way to their final destination.

For some, and I have had first-hand experience of this (being a transport operator), heading for a National Park or other remote bush walking area on the day they arrive and within only four or five hours of arriving being uncontactable due to remoteness and no phone signal.

A few hours later it is discovered that the "person of concern" (the one without the permit) may already be infected with COVID or highly likely they might be carrying it - now we have mammoth job for contact tracers to contact all that were on this flight, not to mention all those people that they have had contact with. Talk about shutting the stable door when the horse has already bolted.

Surely this all could be avoided if no-one on any incoming flight is allowed to leave the airport, but compelled to wait in a special area (let's call it a bio-security holding lounge) until all passengers have had their temperatures scanned and entry permits checked.

Yes, this might take up to 3O minutes to do this, but if there is a problem you do not have to go looking for people that have already left the airport, measures can be put in place immediately. An inconvenience, yes, but a small price to pay to protect your loved ones and the broader community.

SO we are going to get another three big box developments in Invermay, all of which are giving us items we already have.

They are being built on land which might just disappear in the next few decades, but the main objection is the traffic.

The council may have put a new exit from Bunnings, but with extra big developments it's going to be even worse.

Our councillors only seem to think of more money from rates, those new parking meters and spending money on bland malls, but they don't seem to have a long-term plan for Launceston.

The only one with any get and go seems to be Danny Gibson, who is also available to visit people with problems.

Does the council actually take advice from experts or just from developers who have the money to push things through?

WHILE Cassy O'Connor continues to bang the native forest drum, the rest of the world is changing its attitude toward forestry by embracing well managed forestry as a part of the solution to climate change.

You need look no further than the IPCC reports that she refers to.

In the long-term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual yield of timber, fibre, or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit (IPCC, 2007).

Sustainable forest management aimed at providing timber, fibre, biomass, non-timber resources and other ecosystem functions and services, can lower GHG emissions and can contribute to adaptation (IPCC, 2019).