A great idea - poorly implemented

You may have seen the current affairs program promoting the new federal government National Toilet Map that is on the internet. It is presented by the Department of Health and Ageing and is billed as a project of the National Continence Management Strategy. Sounds like a good idea? Think again!



To test the system, check out your own area. Take a look at the Rural City of Wangaratta and you will find that there are about fourteen toilets in the CBD including the one demolished to make way for Woolworths.

Whilst many McDonalds toilets are listed, the Benalla and Wangaratta ones are missing.

Get out of the CBD and search around the rural areas. You will find there are no public toilets in Oxley, Whitfield, Cheshunt, Edi, Edi Upper and other towns although the facilities are certainly there.

Whilst the RCoW has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into these rural facilities in recent years, it seems that they have not been consulted or have not advised the government of the falilities available.

If the RCoW representation is typical of the National Public Toilet Map, then it is a waste of time and certainly of little help to the estimated 3.8 million Australians who are affected by incontinence.