Privacy no concern

GREG Barns’s wildly exaggerated Talking Point column on the risks to privacy posed by the My Health Record, ends with the words: “You have been warned” ( Mercury, July 23). In earlier columns he chides politicians for “playing the fear card”. Double standards anybody? As has been noted by

Bruny tender sound

I AM writing to address concerns raised about the Bruny Island ferry contract. Government procurement processes are designed around the principles of value for money, open and effective competition, compliance with ethical and legislative standards, observation of relevant codes and enhancing opportunities for local business to bid for government contracts.

Far from “pushing aside” local companies and experience, the State Government’s tender process for the Bruny Island ferry service was open and allowed tenderers to propose different ways to meet the minimum requirement of a service at least as good as the current one. Local companies had every opportunity to submit a proposal, if they chose to do so.

Animals matter

JAN Davis’s Talking Points ( Mercury, June 27, May 24) are seriously out of touch with modern compassionate thinking. Ms Davis would like to see increasingly intensive animal farming systems at a time we are moving away from them and strongly supports the live-export trade. She objects to loss of efficiency caused by animal welfare progressions. Ms Davis and others may still have their blinkers firmly affixed, but the rest of the Western world is slowly removing theirs. That is why there has been a huge public outcry over Australia’s horrific live exports. That is why there are restrictions on the length of time sows are incarcerated in sow stalls, a cap (in Tasmania) on the number of caged hens allowed for egg production and a Tasmanian ban on using hormonal growth promotants. This is why supermarkets are reacting to the pressure from consumers and helping to drive change.