Dick,
Sometimes I think you are seeing issues when they aren't there. crab@ had a wink emoticon yet you've now alluded to it worrying you. There have been conflicting reports from AW139 drivers about the OEI capability of the machine, some agreeing with and some rebutting whoever you spoke to and sparked this thread.
I think we all can see that the Australian emergency services are doing more winching than used to be the case, one reason being that there are more helicopters available to be tasked and another that generally those machines are far more capable than only ten years ago.
Personally I applaud the concept, and firmly believe that operators nowadays have far better role equipment and better trained crews than was the case. Plus they have years of experience and well constructed operating guidelines than we ever knew about.
Be thankful that they stand ready to be tasked to save lives, rather than seek to limit or remove the capability based on poor briefing or poor decision making in a minority of winch ops.