LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
ON August 4 I attended the Wellington Shire Council offices to speak for the third time in favour of mosquito monitoring and spraying close to towns and hamlets along our coast.
The program targets only the larvae of Salt Marsh Mosquito, a species which is known to transmit Ross River virus.
Council was supposed to present a report regarding the petition signed by the residents of Seaspray, The Honeysuckles and Golden Beach, but that didn’t happen for some reason.
Instead we got the same reply we have been hearing since June 2 about educating the public in the use of mosquito repellent.
My speech was followed by Maggie Evison, secretary of the Seaspray and Honeysuckle Ratepayers Association, then Patricia Madeley from Loch Sport spoke in detail about her experience with the debilitating disease Ross River Fever.
Later outside the building I asked Patricia when she thought she had contracted the disease and she replied , “last November 2014”.
This was the time the spraying machine was out of order and in for repair.
At the council meeting Cr Peter Cleary commented on the cost of replacing equipment.
The Health Department actually pays for replacing and repairing equipment as well as the cost of the biological agent used to control the population of the Salt Marsh Mosquitoes.
Council should lobby the department for increased funding to continue this most important public health program.