Tamar Valley News October 2022

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Local Gallery showcases best that Tasmanian Woodworkers have to offer

By Regan Summers

Many Tasmanians have a wide range of artistic skills and interests, although, it can be difficult to find a place to view local Tasma nian art. The Sculptured Gallery at Clarence Point, however, is a place where visitors can view wood sculptures and artwork that make use of Tasmania’s natural beauty.

Small businesses, such as this one, offer a personal experience that is import ant when viewing artworks which invoke feelings and emotions.

Owned by locals Roy and Peta Soundranayagam and first opened in 2015, the Sculptured Gallery is a beautiful building filled with fantastic artwork from artists all over Tasmania.

The wooden sculptures range from tables to animal sculptures, to large pieces

that immediately grab your attention when walking through the door.

“We have one off pieces of art that you won’t see else where,” said Peta. She con tinued “we don’t have any mass-produced items, we have a variety of artists who put things in the gallery and they are quite unique.”

The artworks submitted to the gallery are unique in that they vary in size, shape, the type of wood used, and more. The focus on local art allows the gallery to feel uniquely Tasmanian, with the knowledge that all the works within its walls are made from Tasmanian wood by Tasmanians who know and love the island. This sense of belonging gives each and every piece a feeling of being a part of Tasmania’s land. All of the artwork is made with local woods such as Huon Pine, Tasmanian Sassafras and Tasmanian

Myrtle amongst many more. This connection to the great forests of our island is important as a cultural connection to the very land which we live on today.

Being able to make fantastic artwork from the surround ings of our island home is an important part of our cultural identity as Tasma nians.

A multitude of the pieces are up for sale, with Peta saying that the large pieces would be perfect for a foyer area.

Many of the large pieces could serve as a fantastic statement piece in a home, whereas many small pieces would make great gifts or additions to any space.

From practical pieces such as tables and mirrors to the flashier pieces that can com mand the interior design of a space, there is something for everyone.

The Sculptured Gallery is

open to adding more sculp tures, although not every piece may be suitable for display.

“They (artists) can contact us and if it is something that we can look after properly and not get damaged, then we can put it on consign ment here.”

“I love being able to pro mote Tasmania to tourists. We get people come in and they’re so amazed at the countryside and the beauty and then they see the timberwork and they think it’s stunning. They want to take some things home to remind them of Tasmania.”

More information about the gallery can be found at www. sculpturedgallery.com. au/

Surrounded by handmade beauty (PHOTO: Regan Summers)

Local groups look out for the wellbeing of little Penguins

Australia, Patagonia and two patches of water up in the Arctic Ocean, North of Russia where oceans are warming four times faster than the rest of the world’s oceans. At this stage, experts are unclear on the reasoning behind this, however the change has increased the re cords for warmer water, fish, turtles and other species off the East Coast of Tasma nia. Which Dr Woehler suggested may be why the penguins are changing their behaviour to.

“There is change hap pening and the birds are responding, the penguins are responding by breeding more over a greater span of time. The only thing that is still fixed is the moult, every bird in the world as to moult its feathers at least once a year. Some birds do it twice a year, the penguins do it once a year and they do it after their breeding season.”

more often.”

“They’re spending more time breeding, so with one side of the equation they come ashore for breeding and producing more young sters, but that also has a negative to it in that they are more susceptible to preda tion and being attacked by dogs.”

Sometimes as 60 penguins can be killed in a single night by loose dogs and as many as 200 have been killed in the Low Head area across 4-5 dog attacks. “The colony will take decades to recover because they are only producing 2 eggs when they breed, and typically if they’re lucky they get one chick out of 2 eggs. If they’re breeding 2 or 3 times a year or at least twice, it reduces the time that it takes the colony to recover but it will still take decades.”

a significant difference in terms of getting the kids involved so there’s a bit of local ownership, the kids got their names on the nest boxes. We’ve got that in formation so there’s a bit of ownership. It’s also building onto getting involvement in the next generation.”

Previous publications have stated that there are over 1,000,000 little penguins in Australia, however Dr Woehler does not believe this number to be accurate stating it was based on a false belief.

Research conducted over the last 10 or so years by the Philip Island Nature Parks organisation now has experts estimating colony sizes of between 250,000 and 500,000 birds.

Local group, Tamar NRM (Tamar Natural Resource Management) hosted their Tamar Discovery Series featuring the little Penguins that reside in the Low Head area.

The little penguins, scientif ically known as Eudyptula minor, are the smallest of their kind and can dive approximately 30 metres be low sea level for about 1-1 ½ minutes. The adult penguin’s weigh around 1kg and grow to approximately 40cm high and have an average lifespan of 6 years.

The penguins have large eyes with retinas which are specifically adapted to de tect movement in low light, and they can also see clearly both above and under water.

Penguins are cleverly coloured, allowing them to blend in with their sur roundings providing them with the ultimate cam ouflage from prey above and below the water. The silvery-white underside of a penguin makes it hard er for seals and sharks to spot them from beneath the ocean’s surface, while the dark shading on their back blends in with the sea making it hard for preda tory birds to see them from above.

Penguins catch their prey

by rapidly jabbing with their beaks and swallowing it whole. To maintain their condition, they must eat 25% of their body weight each day. When penguins are feeding young or build ing up fat to moult, they need to eat more food.

Penguins are thought to attract mates by singing, but they also use this song to frighten off intruders and strengthen the bond between a mated pair. The song begins with a bass rumble followed by a trum pet-like cry accompanied by flipper, beak, and body movements.

BirdLife Tasmania Con venor and Ornithologist, Dr Eric Woehler described the penguins as generalists when it came to their diet.

“They eat fish, squid, crus taceans, anything that they come across they will eat because they can’t afford to swim past something, hop ing that something better will be beyond that.”

“Like all birds, they regur gitate their food, feed the chick and then sometimes the same bird that’s just come out of the water will stay with the chick and then the partner will go out, they’ll alternate.”

Little Penguins are only found in Australia and New

Zealand and are believed to stretch around the Austra lian coastline from Perth, Western Australia via the Great Australian Bight, through to Kangaroo Island, South Australia, Victoria and as far north as Sydney, but Tasmania is believed to be the stronghold for the species.

“We do have them all around New Zealand and the interesting thing is that they’re similar but not iden tical. There’s a suggestion that New Zealand little pen guins might be a different species to the little penguins here in Tasmania.”

Historically, a typical year for penguins would see them come ashore during Springtime (September –November), breed during the Summer (December – February), moult in the Autumn (March – May) and then spend the Winter (June – August) at sea, how ever there is new evidence to suggest that the birds are changing their yearly regime.

“When I was up here (in Low Head) in August, we had birds on eggs, birds with chicks and birds get ting ready to breed.”

Data has revealed that there are four areas in the world, including South-East

“At the moment we’re getting moult sometime between the first week in January through to about the end of March, that 3-month window, the birds will moult somewhere in that, and it takes them about 20-25 days to moult and then they’ll go out to sea.”

Based on the size of the chicks in the colony back in August, Dr Woehler said he did some calculations and believed the birds were lay ing eggs in early June while the days were still getting shorter before the winter solstice.

“They’ve completely changed their breeding cy cle and it’s simply a function of water temperatures and increased food availability for the birds.” He said.

“We’re getting sometimes 10-15% of birds breeding in the winter months, when 20 years ago it wasn’t happen ing at all.”

Dr Woehler stated that there were consequences associat ed with the birds’ tendency to stay ashore longer and it makes them more vulnera ble to pray. “We’ve seen an increase not here but statewide, we’ve had an increase in dog attacks on penguins in the last say, 10 years compared to previous years because the birds are ashore

The Friends of Low Head Penguin Colony Group is one of many volun teer-based organisations that aim to protect the penguins and record more data about them. One measure they have taken to help protect the penguins is the installation of nest boxes which the penguins use when they are breeding or moulting.

“There’s been various people that have put in concrete ig loos, nest boxes of different designs, but there’s been no real effort made to map or register where all those are so in all of my walks, I think we’ve now mapped about 60 – 70 old nest boxes and igloos in the landscape that people had no idea where they were.”

Earlier in the year, local schools were engaged to help make the nest boxes which were then placed out in the area for the penguins. Dr Woehler noted that when he surveyed the boxes last month, only about six or seven nest boxes hadn’t been used in some way. “It’s a remarkably successful effort by the community and by the Friends of Low Head Group and the schools to have produced.”

“I think we’ve still got another 10-15 boxes to put out, but certainly it’s very clear that it’s very easy for a community group to make

“It’s much more accurate and so the concern will be that when those numbers start getting published, peo ple are going to say, oh but this one said a million, now you’re saying half a million. Oh my God, we’ve lost half a million Penguins, that’s not the way that it works, it was never a million birds to begin with.”

“Slowly we’re building up the picture of what the real populations are for Pen guins in Tasmania but it’s going to take a long time.”

Penguin viewing is typically good year-round, though the number of penguins seen varies with the season.

Because penguins are nocturnal creatures with sensitive eyes, they should be observed only with sub dued lighting.

“It’s really important that when you go to a colony be it Low Head or Bicheno wherever, that you use red lights. Don’t use the flash on your phone, don’t use the white lights, the torch on your phone. Their eyes are really sensitive to white light and so by putting a red cellophane or using a red filter on your torch or phone means that you can see the birds and you don’t disturb the birds.”

Dr Eric Woehler talks to the group about the little penguins at Low Head. (PHOTO: Zac Lockhart)

Lockhart

It’s no secret that our Health System is at breaking point, with vigorous public discus sion and commentary held over the last decade on all sides of politics. Despite the many opinions, discussions, debates and promises by our politicians, here we are in 2022 with a broken health system which continues to decay and fail to meet the needs of locals, but why?

This investigative report aims to uncover the main issues facing our health system, and how our polit ical leaders are aiming to

its last legs’

address them, in an effort to keep you informed and en able you to lobby your local politicians to do better.

The beginning

The major problems with our health system that we experience now, began back in 2011, under the then La bor Government. Assistant State Secretary of HACSU, Lucas Digney, said that the Labor Government at the time, led by Lara Giddings, implemented budget aus terity measures that heavily impacted the functioning of the health system.

“They ran the health system on a predetermined budget

ary number rather than on demand” said Mr Digney. When asked if Labor had learned from its past mistakes, Shadow Minister for Health, Anita Dow MP, said that health is always a challenge, but it cannot be denied the system is much worse today than when the Liberals came to office.

“Tasmanians can trust Labor has its priorities right, unlike the Liberals who are prioritising a $750 million stadium over addressing the health crisis.” Said Ms Dow. While this response provid ed some insight into Labor’s plans to prioritise health should they be re-elect

ed, we are still unclear on whether Labor acknowledge their prior mistakes or have learned from them.

When I asked Jeremy Rock liff MP, Tasmanian Premier and Health Minister for a response regarding the health system being worse now under the Liberals compared to when Labor lost the 2014 election nearly a decade ago, I was provided with a list of links to previ ous budget-related media releases, none of which directly answered my ques tion, instead feeding me the usual political spin along the lines of ‘look how much money we’re throwing at it.’

why

Colour me impressed.

Current problems

While an understanding of how the issues started with our health system is important, we also need to understand the current is sues which are most heavily impacting its ability to meet the health needs of locals.

The build-up of issues has also contributed to decreas ing staff morale.

“Workers are really at the end of their tether” said Mr Digney.

“And they become increas

ingly angry and increasingly incentivized to take action against the government because of the government’s inability to deal with those issues in any measurable way.”

While these issues are im mense, it’s important to note that a great deal of money is being spent on health in an effort to make improve ments, however it’s evident that this financial spend is not producing good enough results when compared to the amount spent.

“To be fair to the govern ment, they have thrown heaps of money at it” said Mr Digney.

“But there hasn’t been any overarching strategic plan from 2014 to 2018, to say this is how we’re going to in vest in various components to make improvements.”

It’s clear that strategic management is in far more demand for our health sys tem than handouts of cash, so with all of this money being spent, what are the plans from our two major political parties to fix the major issues?

Some of the most significant issues in our health system are listed below, along with details of how each side of politics plans to solve them.

Bed block and ramping

One of the key issues in our health system is bed block. This occurs when there sim ply aren’t enough beds avail able to admit patients. This often leads to patients being kept in the emergency de partment while waiting for a bed to become available on a ward, therefore leading to a shortage of available beds and staff in the emergency department, which then means paramedics are need

ing to wait with patients in the ambulance bays. This takes ambulance vehicles and staff out of action for several hours, meaning there are less crews available to respond to 000 calls.

The government have implemented a range of strategies to help combat this problem at the LGH, such as a new 28 bed medi cal ward on 3D, 4 additional overnight beds in the LGH short stay surgical unit; and reopening 9 beds in nega tive pressure rooms in the Acute Medical Unit which were temporarily closed during construction.

“We have also implemented a new Statewide Inter-Hos pital Transfer Policy en abling patients to be directly admitted to a destination ward when transferring from another THS hospital, reducing the need for these patients to go through the ED.” Said Mr Rockliff.

“To reduce demand in our hospitals we are implement ing innovative approaches to offer quality care in the community.”

“Examples of these suc cessful innovations in clude Community Rapid Response, Ambulance secondary triage services.

PACER – police, ambulance, and clinician early response to provide urgent mental health care to people in the community and COVID@ Home plus providing care for COVID-positive people in their own homes and reducing hospitalisations.”

“In the Launceston region, the Tasmanian Government

is funding a pilot to enable the Launceston Urgent Care Centre (a private GP prac tice at Newstead) to provide an after-hours urgent care alternative to the LGH Emergency Department. The trial means that people in Launceston are able to receive urgent treatment at the Clinic outside regular GP hours, and at no charge for eligible concession card holders.”

“We have also released our Masterplan for the Launces ton General Hospital, which sets out a roadmap for the redevelopment of the LGH precinct and is supported by our commitment of $580 million over 10 years.”

Despite these measures, bed block remains an overarch ing issue at the LGH. While the government have committed to the LGH up grade, Anita Dow says not enough is being done.

“To date we have seen very little progress on these important projects with the $750m stadium in Hobart seeming to rank as a higher priority for Jeremy Rockliff” said Ms Dow.

Outpatient waiting times

Those who need to see a specialist at the LGH can expect wait times extending beyond a year in some cases. For example, a category 2 or semi-urgent referral to the outpatient cardiology clinic at the LGH can currently expect to wait an average of 1,006 days to be seen by a cardiologist. The clinical guidelines for a category 2 referral outline that an appointment within 90 days

is desirable, and that the condition has potential to require more complex care if assessment is delayed; and the condition has the poten tial to have some impact on the patient’s quality of life if care is delayed beyond 90 days. By comparison, a cat egory 1 referral to the out patient cardiology clinic can expect to wait an average of 324 days, as opposed to the recommended 30-day limit in the clinical guidelines.

These guidelines also state that the condition is likely to require more complex or emergent care if assessment is delayed; and that the patient’s quality of life will be significantly impacted if delayed. It is clear that these wait times can only be described as unacceptable.

One patient we interviewed, a 60-year-old Tamar Valley local named Kevin (name changed to protect his identity), was first referred to outpatient cardiology in March 2022, and is still yet to receive an appointment. Among a plethora of other health issues, his treating team currently suspect heart failure, and require a cardi ologist’s assessment, and an echocardiogram to confirm or rule out the diagnosis and begin treatment. Kevin currently sees two other specialists at the LGH, and both are, like Kevin, waiting for a cardiology appoint ment to become available so they can move forward with their diagnosis and treat ment plans.

“You have to advocate for yourself” said Kevin, stating that he is only seeing the other two specialists be

is failing

cause he called and followed up about the status of his referrals.

On one call, he was in formed that his referral had been categorised as a cate gory 2 referral, and that they were only seeing category 1 patients currently, so there would be a significant wait.

“I’ve had to see specialists privately, because of the wait times.”

“It’s cost hundreds of dollars in consult fees and transport costs”

When asked how the gov ernment plans to resolve the issue of outpatient waiting times, Jeremy Rockliff said that while there is a long way to go, they are work ing hard to improve the way outpatient services are delivered in Tasmania.

“That is why one of my top priorities this year is a State wide Outpatient Plan that provides a clear, focused road map for the delivery of outpatient services over the next four years and will be co-designed with clini cians, patients, and other key stakeholders” said Mr Rockliff.

“The 2022/23 Budget committed $7.2 million over four years to transform the way outpatient services are delivered. This funding includes implementing a Statewide Outpatient Administration Hub and digital portal to improve pa tient communications, im plement electronic referrals and ensure an efficient and effective service to improve access and reduce wait times

This excerpt of estimated waiting times for Urgent referrals to the outpatient specialist clinics at the Launceston General Hospital shows that some patients are waiting close to a year before being seen by specialists, despite clinical recommendations that they should be seen within 30 days.

According to the Tasmanian Health Service (THS) Category 1 (urgent) referrals should be seen within 30 days, and that the condition will l require more complex or emergent care if assessment is delayed, as well as having a significant impact on the persons quality of life.

Clinic Name Indicative Waiting time (days)

Allied Health Paediatric Service 367

Cardiology Clinic 324

Diabetes Clinic 118

Diabetes Dietitian 145

Diabetes Paediatric Clinic 256

Ear Nose & Throat Clinic 103

Endocrine Clinic 242

Gastroenterology Clinic 335

General Medicine Clinic 105

General Surgery Clinic 115

Neurology Clinic 304

Physiotherapy Lymphoedema 196

Renal Clinic 173

Respiratory Clinic 292

Urology Clinic 162

Vascular Clinic 228

Wound Management Clinic 559

Adapted from THS Data available at https:// outpatients.tas.gov.au/clinicians/wait_times

This data was the most recently released at the time of publication, and was initially released on 26 August 2022 and is indicative only.

for patients.”

In contrast, Anita Dow said that if elected, Labor would invest some of the huge spend on locums and overtime into hiring more permanent staff.

“Employing more per manent staff is a focus for Labor because we know this will help to bring the wait list down” said Ms Dow.

A freedom of information request revealed that in the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the Tasmanian Government spent $33 million on medi cal locums, and $21 million on visiting medical officers, showing the extent of the issue.

Lucas Digney said HACSU were aware of the issue and actively advocating for the government to imple ment strategies to develop a permanent workforce, such as making subsidies and grants available to pay medical school tuition costs for students who agree to work in in-demand public health positions for a set amount of time following their graduation, similar to Australian Defence Force scholarships.

Elective surgery

Despite common miscon ception, elective surgeries are not necessarily optional, and if delayed can lead to major health problems, the worsening of conditions and to decreased quality of life for patients. Despite

the obvious importance of a well-functioning elective surgical system, this is still a significant issue for Tasma nians.

The Tasmanian Govern ment has made some strong strides in attempting to bring elective surgery waitlists under control, beginning with then-health minister Michael Ferguson implementing a strategy in 2016 that allowed for a number of patients on the elective surgery waiting list to receive their surgeries in private hospitals. While this strategy undoubtedly eased pressure on elective surgery waitlists at the time, the measure was only a tempo rary solution.

As it stands, as of August 2022 there are 8,935 people on the elective surgery waiting list, a reduction of 16.5% compared to August 2021. This is largely due to the implementation of the Tasmanian Governments $196.4 million Statewide Elective Surgery Four Year Plan to deliver around 30,000 extra elective sur geries and endoscopies over four years.

In addition, the number of patients treated within recommended timeframes has risen from 54% to 62%. While the government celebrate this as an achieve ment, it is a stark reminder that 38% of patients are waiting for treatment be yond clinically recommend ed timeframes, placing their

health and quality of life in jeopardy.

When asked if Labor planned to also utilise private hospitals for elective surgeries if elected, Anita Dow said they are currently considering their policies for the next election.

“Other states are trialling different approaches to elective surgery including dedicated elective sur gery hospitals. Short term measures can bring about reductions in wait lists, but long-term sustainable initia tives must be a priority for Government and recruiting more staff including periop erative nurses should be a very important part of this.”

Politics

While Tasmanians have many varying views on our health system, one thing we can all agree on is that politics should not get in the way of healthcare.

Our current health minis ter, Jeremy Rockliff, is also our premier, which has prompted Labor to label Mr Rockliff as our ‘part-time Health Minister’.

“The health portfolio is an incredibly important port folio. It is unprecedented that there is not a full time Health Minister in Tasma nia. Being the Premier of Tasmania carries signifi cant responsibility and this responsibility should not be shared with the health portfolio. Right now, the

Premier’s focus is on a $750m stadium in Hobart and not fixing Tasmania’s health crisis.”

“Each MP manages their workload in different ways. The point I have made is that there must be another MP in Premier Rockliff’s Cabinet capable of taking on the responsibility of Health Minister. Our health system needs the full attention of a full time Health Minister” said Ms Dow.

When asked for a response, Mr Rockliff said Tasma nians aren’t interested in Labor’s politics.

“As I said when I became Premier, I recognise that for Tasmanians, health is one of their most important issues and it’s for that reason I chose to retain the health portfolio as Premier. I am committed to delivering a health system Tasmanians deserve and I continue to work hard every day to deliver that.”

“Our government’s commit ment to ensuring Tasma nians can get the right care in the right place at the right time is evident in our recent Budget which invests 33 per cent of the total operating expenditure allocated to health.” Said Mr Rockliff.

Lucas Digney said HACSU shared Ms Dow’s sentiment.

“Being the premier or the treasurer is one thing, but the pressure of being health

minister is a totally different thing”

“Health is the single biggest portfolio by an absolute mile, it’s the most important portfolio for the commu nity, and it’s simply not something that can be done in conjunction with being the boss.”

While our politicians talk the talk, just how well do they understand the issues of our health system?

When asked what they see as the 3 biggest issues with the health system, and how they plan to fix them, here’s what they said.

Jeremy Rockliff: Difficulty with accessing Primary Care

All across the country, Aus tralians are having difficulty accessing timely, affordable access to a local GP. Tas mania is no different, and we know this is a critically important part of the health System.

While primary healthcare is the responsibility of the Federal Government - and despite the best efforts of hard-working GPs - we are seeing falling bulk billing rates and increasing difficul ty accessing appointments, particularly in rural and remote areas of Tasmania. This difficulty in accessing primary care impacts all areas of our health system, including our Emergen cy Departments and our hospitals.

To address this, our govern ment is increasingly step ping in to enhance primary care access for Tasmanians, and I have been engaging strongly with the Federal Government to work with us to support reform that will provide improved ac cess to primary care.

Access to elective surgery

One of my key areas of focus is ensuring that more Tasmanians receive elective surgery procedures within clinically recommended times.

That’s why we have devel oped a Statewide Elective Surgery Four Year Plan with increased funding of $196.4 million to deliver around 30,000 extra elective surger ies and endoscopies.

In the 2021/22 financial year, a record number of public patients - 20,314 Tasmanians - received an elective procedure – and increase of 11 per cent of that delivered the year be

fore and up 35 per cent on surgery in 2019-20.

For endoscopies, the waiting list also dropped by 15.9 per cent in the 2021/22 finan cial year and the number of people waiting longer than clinically recommended for elective surgery has reduced by more than 1050 patients or 19 per cent during the 2021-22 financial year.

We are continuing to make progress, with the latest data to the end of July 2022 showing that there are now 1648 fewer patients waiting for elective surgery than 12 months prior.

Access to health informa tion

We know that a key way we can enhance the connectiv ity of care across our health system is by investing in digital health infrastructure for the future.

That’s why our government has announced that we will invest $150 million to begin implementing a 10-year Digital Health Transfor mation Strategy to mod ernise Tasmania’s public health ICT infrastructure and drive the adoption of digital health technologies to improve patient and staff experience.

This investment, anticipated to be an investment of more than $475 million over 10 years, will support greater equity in health outcomes across Tasmania’s dispersed population and will enhance patient experience with less time waiting for services, less duplication of care and advanced scheduling of appointments.

And for clinicians, this will ensure they can access the right patient information at the right time to support clinician decision making and reduce administrative burden to free up their time for clinical activities and seeing patients.

Anita Dow: Bed Block

Promises were made to up grade health infrastructure, including the Launceston General Hospital and stage three of the Royal Hobart Hospital and these should be prioritised by this Gov ernment, not a $750 million stadium in Hobart.

Information recently released under Right to In formation revealed that $54 million was spent on locum and visiting medical officers (VMOs) in 2020/21, and

Elective surgery waitlist data shows that 28% of patients do not receive care within recommended timeframes. (PHOTO: Stock Image).

$33 million was spent last financial year on nursing overtime. This is money that could be better spent on hir ing more permanent staff to allow our hospitals to open more beds.

Staff shortages- reten tion and attraction and wellbeing. Labor would reinvest some of the $33m spent on over time and $54m spent on locums/VMOs in more staff and better conditions for our hardworking health care workers.

We would also put more support in place for new

This should be the priority for the Government, not a $750m stadium in Hobart. The Government isn’t get ting the basics right.

Ambulance Ramping Addressing bed block and better resourcing emergency departments would help reduce ambulance ramp ing. So would recruiting additional paramedics and providing more support to those we have.

Improved infrastructure is also important, including increasing the number of double branch stations across the state, and more

officers.

The way forward

While this report has covered some of the issues, there are a plethora of others left unmentioned, so how can we move forward to make improvements?

According to HACSU, there are plenty of ways for the everyday citizen to help improve the health system.

“They can demand better from their local member” said Mr Digney.

“Get on your local mem bers Facebook page. Write

local member an email, or come and join a community rally at the hospital if you see them advertised.”

“There’s many things local people can do to demand better from their local rep resentatives.”

“They can’t just in their in minds say that these people need to better, they need to get out there and tell those people, because most politicians are very good at reacting to their own constituents.”

“It’s one thing for a union official like me to be critical

care what colour they are, but it’s an additional punch that comes when it’s an average man or woman off the street saying these same things to their local mem bers.”

“It makes them want to do stuff, and ultimately most politicians and motivated by garnering votes at the next election.”

“I urge the readers to put as much pressure on their local members as they can.”

“By standing up and de manding better, that’s the only way the community

politicians more than cam era-phones is constituents.”

• Lara Alexander

• Michael Ferguson

• Janie Finlay

• Michelle O’Byrne

• Simon Wood

Readers are encouraged to contact their local repre sentatives, and demand better for our health system. Countless people, including hospital staff & clinicians, patients and HACSU are telling them how to improve the system, they need only listen and act.

State Government members for Bass include:

Ambulance response times have worsened since 2014, now at despite the government spending millions. (PHOTO: Stock Image)

Government turns their back on motorists

for an extension of the fuel excise tax is in line with the concerns raised with me from people all across Northern Tasmania who are concerned about the impact ending the excise tax will have on their budget. This is of particular concern given the rising costs we are all facing whether that is at the grocery store, paying an electricity bill or trying to meet sky-high rental costs or keeping up with increas ing mortgage interest rates.”

“I do appreciate the Federal Government has many competing priorities how ever they have long been extremely vocal about eas ing cost of living pressures for Australians and the time for talk is over and they now must demonstrate how they will turn this talk into tangi ble action that will support our community.”

ing with fuel wholesalers and retailers to say that we do not expect to see un characteristic or abnormal wholesale and retail price increases in the days leading up to, and on the day of, or after, the reintroduction of the full rate of fuel excise.”

Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

“Motorists are reminded that prices will continue to fluctuate with changes in international prices and the exchange rate, as well as petrol price cycles in the five major capital cities. Our monitoring and analysis will assess and report on all factors influencing retail prices. The ACCC will con tinue its weekly reporting to consumers about what is happening to fuel prices and when to find the cheapest fuel.”

By Kristy Williams

The cost of living has been rapidly increasing in recent years, putting additional financial strain on many households. In response to rising fuel prices earlier this year, the Morrison govern ment introduced a 50% cut to the Fuel Excise Tax in March 2022.

Mr Morrison made claims the sudden increase in fuel prices earlier in the year were due to events well beyond Australian shores such as the war in Ukraine and stated the temporary fuel excise cut was feasible due to the current position of the economy at the time of his announcement.

The recently elected Alba nese Government stated

they would not continue the cut despite Mr Alba nese scolding the Morrison Government in October last year with a twitter post that read; “Petrol prices are at record highs, putting major squeeze on family budgets across the country and the Morrison Government isn’t doing anything about it.”

According to the ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission), record international prices for crude oil and refined petrol were due to increased demand, production cuts by Russia and the OPEC (Or ganization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) cartel and the war in Ukraine.

The ACCC’s latest quarterly petrol monitoring report for June 2022 revealed the av

erage retail petrol prices in the five largest capital cities were 188.0 cents per litre (cpl), up by 6.1cpl from the March quarter. This was the sixth consecutive quarter in which prices increased. In real terms, prices in the June quarter were the highest since the September quarter in 2008, when average pric es in 2021-22 dollars were 206.9cpl.

Retail prices then fell by about 35cpl in July as international crude oil and refined petrol prices de clined due to an increase in supply from oil stockpiles, lockdowns in parts of China and a worsening global economic outlook.

“Motorists experienced savings because of the fuel excise cut at a time of record

and rising wholesale prices. The excise cut prevented even higher prices due to international factors, largely driven by the war in Ukraine.” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

“Since late June, average re tail petrol prices have come down significantly, in line with decreases in interna tional crude oil and refined petrol prices.”

When we asked Federal Member for Bass, Bridget Archer, about her opinion of the Fuel Excise Tax and whether motorists were being priced out of car ownership, this was her response:

“I continue to advocate for the best interests of our community and my call

One Launceston local ex pressed the end of the Fuel Excise cut had left them feeling angry and con cerned about the anticipated increase in fuel and the flow on effect for other bills such as grocery shopping. “When I first started driving, I can remember fuel being approximately $1.20 some thing per litre.” They said.

Following the excise rein troduction, the ACCC will be monitoring wholesale and retail prices closely and will not hesitate to take action if retailers make misleading statements on price movements or if there is evidence of anti-competi tive behaviour (such as price collusion).

“We will shortly be engag

“Shopping around and us ing fuel price apps can help consumers find the cheapest petrol in their area. Our previous research has shown that buying at independent retailers and avoiding the top of the petrol price cycle in the five largest capital cities can save motorists a lot of money.” Ms Cass-Got tlieb said.

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Funding for BBAMZ’s Bell Bay Hydrogen Cluster extended

The CEO of the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone (BBAMZ), Susie Bow er, announced that funding for the Bell Bay Hydrogen Cluster Manager’s role has been extended by the Tas manian Government.

“The Bell Bay Hydrogen Cluster is an important foundation for a future hydrogen industry at Bell Bay and BBAMZ strongly welcomes Minister Barnett’s recent announcement of extended funding to sup port this program,” said Ms Bower.

“The Bell Bay Hydrogen Cluster will ensure that local businesses already engaged in advanced manufacturing and those seeking to extend their capability will be fully

involved with all opportuni ties as they arise.

“BBAMZ was pleased to see the announcement of the Tasmanian Green Hydrogen Hub at Bell Bay in May 2022 and this funding will enable the significant work of the Bell Bay Cluster to continue as the Bell Bay Hub com mences expected develop ment in coming months.”

“As a result, the Bell Bay Hy drogen Cluster will continue in developing an industry capability and workforce plan for the Tasmanian Green Hydrogen Hub. This will highlight opportunities for the local business com munity which leverages the hydrogen supply chain map prepared in 2021.”

“BBAMZ has an important role in the development of industry capability in the emerging Tasmanian green hydrogen industry through its close and long-standing connection to industry, and this extension of funding allows us to continue this critical work.” Said Ms Bower.

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Launceston man charged over social media sales dishonesty

A 22-year-old Launceston man has been remanded in custody after allegedly us ing false pretences to obtain more than $200,000 worth of property.

Initially the man was charged over a series of incidents relating to mobile phone sales on social media, but detectives have since identified several further matters.

Police will allege that, with in a period of 6 days, the man used false pretences to obtain cars, motorcycles, trailers, and electron ic goods to the value of $200,000.

The allegations include that the man dishonestly obtained the property from

people attempting to sell them on Facebook mar ketplace, after presenting a falsified bank transfer receipt.

“This man reportedly ‘doc tored’ bank transfer receipts and claimed these were proof that payment had been made,” said Detective Sergeant Luke Negri.

“People have then handed over the property in good faith, and the bank transfer has not occurred.”

“Police would like to remind Tasmanians to be careful when buying and selling goods online.”

“People selling items should ensure the payment has been received before hand

ing any goods over to the buyer.”

“People should also take further steps to confirm the identity of the buyer where possible.”

The man will appear in the Devonport Magistrates Court at a later date.

Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at the Devonport Criminal Investigation Branch on (03) 64784 036. Informa tion can also be provided to Crime Stoppers at crimes topperstas.com.au. You can stay anonymous.

Public views sought on West Tamar Highway

Community consultation is open to identify potential improvements to the West Tamar Highway from Lega na to Beauty Point.

Feedback will be used to inform a corridor strategy being developed by the Tasmanian Liberal Gov ernment to identify and prioritise projects along the entire length of the highway. These projects will improve safety and traffic flow and provide for future growth in the region.

“We recently completed a road corridor study for the southern section of the highway between the Laun ceston CBD and Mcewans Road, north of Legana” said Michael Ferguson MP, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.

“That study identified a list of prioritised projects, including duplication

of the highway between Freshwater Point Drive and Acropolis Drive. Concept designs for the duplication will be released for public comment later this year.”

“We are now extending our corridor planning to the entire West Tamar Highway to include the northern sec tion from Legana to Beauty Point.”

“The West Tamar High way is an important road connecting the region’s community, industry, agriculture and visitors, to Launceston and the rest of the State.”

“The benefit of this whole-of-corridor strate gy is to provide an evi dence-based, prioritised list of projects for future funding.”

People are invited to comment on what improve

ments they would like to see along the full length of the highway from Monday, 26 September to Monday, 24 October 2022.

Feedback can be provided via an interactive map on the Transport website at https://www.transport. tas.gov.au/westtamar or at information displays at West Tamar Highway Beaconsfield Council Chambers, 6 West Street, Beaconsfield, and Exeter Community Hub in Murray Street, Exeter.

Tales of the Tamar

Shifting sands - a history of marram grass

out marram on the dunes. The grass thrived in the mobile coastal dunes, and was observed to be almost indestructible. Avery was soon propagating the grass to share with neighbour ing settlements, as well as sending consignments to the other colonies.

Northern Tasmanians through their Bass Strait ports were in regular and frequent contact with the settlers in Victoria. The news of the successful stabilisation of the dunes with marram at Port Fairy was soon being reported in Tasmanian newspapers. The first plantings in Tasmania were in 1893-94.

procured 5 bags of marram grass roots from the VDL Co. and the task of plant ing the grass was assigned to the Dalrymple Ward members.

In the post-war era, dune encroachment continued to be a problem for coastal farmland opened up for sol dier settlement. In 1955 the Lands Department set up the Sand Dune Reclamation Unit to halt the invasion of the dunes at Waterhouse. This Unit was still operating in 1995. The Public Works Department was also en gaged in planting marram from 1902 through to the 1940s.

By Anne Batt

Most people are aware of the problems of rice grass in the Tamar Estuary itself, but along the coastal beaches on both sides of the Tamar and further along the northern coastline, marram grass is posing a different threat. Both were initially planted to solve one problem, but are now causing different problems.

From early childhood, marram grass and sandhills were an essential part of our experience of the beach. For us that tough, spikey grass has always been there.

Marram grass is not a native grass, but was introduced to deal with a particular prob lem arising from European colonisation.

What was the problem?

Australia has a lot of coast, a lot of sand and a lot of wind. Coastal areas around the mouths of rivers were the most attractive areas for early settlement. The settlers brought animals, agricul tural practices, permanent buildings and the idea of fixed property boundaries with them to Australia. The coastal dunes were prob ably always fairly mobile, but grazing and foraging an imals, and the harvesting of wood rapidly denuded the dunes of their natural vege tation releasing the sand.

Newspapers reported the problem of sand invasions in New South Wales in the 1850s. The inner-city Sydney suburb of Strawber ry Hill was a huge sound mound. The settlers and

their animals removed the vegetation and the sand was set loose. Houses, gardens, fences and wells were all buried, and the sand threat ened to fill Darling Harbour. The sand dunes at Newcas tle also threatened roads and port facilities.

Although the shifting sands had become an increasing nuisance, it was the intro duction of rabbits to Victo ria in 1859 that exacerbated the problem. Coastal set tlements on Victoria’s west coast were severely affected. The Argus noted the rabbit problem in 1886: “Whatwasneededwasade terminedefforttostopthe growthofthenuisance.The wayinwhichtherabbits wereburrowingunderthe sand-hillsontheseashoreat Belfast(PortFairy)would

soloosenthesoilthat, unlesstheywereextirpated then,theadjoiningcountry wouldbecomecoveredwith sanddunes.”

The residents of Port Fairy sought advice from Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, the Government Botanist for Victoria. He recommend ed that the council plant their dunes with marram grass. Marram is native to the sand-dunes of west ern Europe and had been deliberately propagated and planted on dunes with the first such use recorded in the Netherlands in 1423.

Towards the end of 1885, Von Mueller imported a sample of marram grass for the Port Fairy borough. 1886 saw the borough ranger, Mr Avery, planting

After battling encroaching sand on their farmland, roads and the Emu Bay Railway line, the Van Die men’s Land Company took the lead, planting the 1,000 acres on the dunes of their extensive land grants. In October 1894, the Company demonstrated the efficacy of their plantings at West Beach, Stanley to govern ment ministers visiting the area. The Lands Depart ment, Marine Boards, Road Trusts and local councils soon became involved in planting the dunes. The VDL Co. became the main supplier in the state.

Encroaching dunes were a major problem on the North-East Coast between Little Piper River and Bridport. In 1908 the Lands Department arranged the planting of the dunes, with local residents having the job of protecting the grass until it became established.

The grass was planted at Marrawah in 1910 and Wa terhouse in 1911. In 1921, the George Town Council

About a century after the introduction of marram to Australia, scientists and coastal engineers expressed concern about some adverse effects. The grass is ex tremely robust, invasive and hard to control. It thus disrupts natural coastal vegetation. The natural shape of dunes is an incline down to beach level. Storm waves would normally lose erosional power running up the sloping face of the dunes. But Marram holds the sand in such a way that sand is scoured from the face of the dune by storm waves leaving a steep slope, and eroded sand deposited in off-shore bars.

This is becoming a par ticular concern with the prospect of a rising sea level and the increasing intensity of storms associated with global warming. We are only part way through the marram grass saga!

GEORGE TOWN & DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC.

Meetings

SPEAKER: Maggie Fletcher - Female

Photo of East Beach showing the marram grass. (PHOTO: Supplied).