School advantage

WHEN high-income families choose to send their children to private instead of public schools, it’s usually because they want their children to have an educational advantage over children educated in the public school system. What you can also be reasonably sure about, based on funding models that see taxpayers who send their children to public schools paying around 25c in the dollar to support the privately educated, is that the high income families who seek the advantages a private

Well done, Tigers

WHAT a fabulous effort by the Tassie Tigers under highly successful coach Adam Griffith ( Mercury, March 30) in their outstanding achievements this season and falling just short of success in Brisbane on a seemingly very dodgy playing arena. Congratulations must be extended to popular skipper George Bailey on winning

Fix cataract backlog

TASMANIANS are suffering needlessly due to government incompetence. There are thousands on the waiting list for simple procedures, such as cataract surgery, a 10-minute procedure I know many who are waiting months and years to have it done. Without surgery, people find it difficult to live independently, secure work or hold down a job. Government needs to fund a clinic and attend to the backlog, then just keep up with the demand. It is inexcusable people wait for this simple surgery in a first world health system.