COVID-22 is not COVID-19
One thing that irks me about our current situation is that many aspects of our pandemic response have really not evolved. In some cases they have gone backwards in the last two years.
A case (sorry) in point is information about transmission. In the early phase of the pandemic there were long press conferences and detailed discussion about where and how transmission took place. Now it seems we can’t get any information at all. If there were ‘only’ 699 cases yesterday (Tues 2 February) I’d still like to know where they were. In what parts of Tasmania? In what types of settings? We need to be able to manage the hotspots; if we don’t learn the lessons, we will continue to make the same mistakes. If gymnasiums, for example, where people breathe heavily without masks in an enclosed setting, appear to be hotspots, surely people should be adequately warned about that? Or special regulations enacted for such premises?
Our best defence against SARS-COV2 is still not to contract it, given the limited number of treatment options available and the high cost (in all senses) of severe illness if that eventuates. Public Health appear to be now more interested in obfuscation than providing information that would help us, both individually and collectively, make good decisions about risk.
– Benny Wala, Derwent Park
Disappointing Derby Forestry Fetish
What a disappointing and short-sighted response from Dorset Mayor Greg Howard in his rejection of a 32,000-signature petition that called for an end to harvesting timber from forests close to the Derby bike trails.
There is now plenty of evidence – as well as published studies – that conclusively show our remaining forests are far more valuable left standing. Especially in these days of a rapidly changing climate and a recognition that as the ‘lungs of the Earth,’ our ancient forests are crucially important for mitigating the impact of a warming planet. Current forestry practices are brutal compared to the selective logging that was once the norm, and which was far less damaging to those same forests the government is inviting tourists to visit and experience.
Tourism-related businesses also provide considerably more employment these days than forestry, and will benefit our economy to a far greater extent than forestry. Tasmanians have been subsidising the forestry industry for decades, to the detriment of our public hospitals, schools and roads. There can still be work for foresters, but rather than chopping down trees, they can instead be employed in the maintenance, protection and conservation of our ancient forests. Times change and it’s beyond time forestry – and the government – recognised this fact and changed its unsustainable, outdated and uneconomic practices.
Doing so would indeed be a win win for us all.
– Anne Layton-Bennett, Swan Bay
It’s all about greed …
Tabatha Badger’s ‘Perrin’s Paddock’ Opinion piece (Tasmanian Times, 24 January 2022) is a warning that Tasmanians are under continuing threat, not only from COVID but also from developer greed aided by local government indifference.
Florence Perrin was my grandmother. She fought all her life for the preservation of Tasmania’s natural assets, including the land at Low Head. It’s really depressing to see all her good intentions being trashed on the altar of profit. It seems too, that local government is complicit in this land grab, through its apparent indifference to the threat.
The historic Low Head Peninsula needs protecting. Its current problems are a warning for all Tasmanian coastal communities that they are not safe. My grandmother would turn in her grave if she could see her life’s work of conservation and philanthropy being rendered useless by greed and indifference.
– Tony Smithies, Low Head
How many devils need to die?
I would like to bring your attention to healthy Tasmanian devils that continue to be killed on roads around Woolnorth, Tasmania’s final frontier of facial tumour disease free devils.
Over the past year, 80 plus healthy devils have met their demise on Woolnorth Road in Tasmania’s north west. Healthy devils continue to be run over at a rate of 2 per week and nothing is being done about it.
I’m surprised and saddened at the negligible response by the Circular Head Council, the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, the Department of State Growth (Roads) and the Threatened Species unit of the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, considering that Woolnorth devils have been disease free for so long and represent the only disease free devils left in the wild in Tasmania. It seems ludicrous that nothing is being done to mitigate the roadkill. Apparently there are kilometres of ‘virtual fences’ ready to deploy, but these have been ready to deploy by the Departmemt of State Growth (Roads) for a whole year.
Why aren’t other roadkill mitigation measures being urgently deployed such as better signage, road strips, underpasses, overpasses, speed humps, and meetings with locals and truck drivers to advise about roadkill hotspots? Why do people care so little about this iconic, endangered species, and how many healthy devils need to die before somebody actually does something about it?
– Dr Colette Harmsen, Former veterinarian with the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, Tinderbox
MMG Tailings Dam ‘Disgraceful Decision’
Minister Sussan Ley you are an absolute disgrace to Australia’s environment. Tasmania’s wild places are the reason people love Tasmania. Locals and visitors alike love the Tasmanian wilderness. Construction of the MMG tailings dam in takayna/Tarkine is a poor environmental decision, and people power will prevail over criminal decisions like this one.
– Felicity Holmes, Tinderbox
Sussan Ley who is controlling you?
As Federal Minister of the Environment, your job is to be responsible for the protection and conservation of the environment in Australia. You are failing miserably at your job.
The MMG tailings dam will not be built in takayna/Tarkine despite you giving it the green light. People power will prevail. The Bob Brown Foundation will continue to oppose its construction. The forest is too precious.
– Andrew Davies, Cremorne
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