Hong Kong government, lawmakers agree to push back contentious measures in bid to stop pan-democrat filibusters
Issues to be shelved include money to remove heavy metal from a former incinerator site and increases in fines for illegal parking
TONY.CHEUNG@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Friday, 01 April, 2016, 7:44pm
Chief Secretary Carrie Lam is hoping that lawmakers can speed up approval for government measures. Photo: Sam Tsang
Several controversial bills and funding requests will be shelved or pushed back as the government and the Legislative Council reached a rare consensus on Friday in a bid to break the political deadlock.
Speaking after a meeting with lawmakers from the pro-establishment and pan-democratic camps, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the concession was made to ensure more important bills and funding requests would be handled by Legco before its session ends in mid-July.
Lam said the government had demonstrated “the biggest sincerity” possible, and hoped that the pan-democrats would stop filibustering in their effort to block bills or proposals they deemed “controversial”.
But Labour Party lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan, who convenes a weekly meeting of 23 pan-democrats, reiterated that it was “too late” for the government to make the change. “The pan-democrats will not be the government’s rubber stamp. We will raise questions on every funding request,” she said.
The two proposals shelved on Friday were a bid to increase illegal parking fines by 50 per cent and work related to a former incineration plant in Kennedy Town.
Officials wanted to spend about HK$1 billion to remove heavy metal buried under the site of a former incinerator and slaughterhouse in Kennedy Town. But district councillors opposed the plan as it meant a park will be demolished to make way for luxury flats.
The pan-democrats will not be the government’s rubber stamp. We will raise questions on every funding request
PAN-DEMOCRAT LAWMAKER CYD HO
Lawmakers also opposed the proposed sharp increase in congestion-related penalties as it could hurt truck and taxi drivers.
Lam also revealed that lawmakers from across the political spectrum had agreed to approve radical lawmaker Raymond Chan Chi-chuen’s motion to completely kill off a contentious copyright bill.
On March 3, Chan pre-empted commerce minister Greg So Kam-leung in tabling the motion, putting So and the pro-establishment camp in an embarrassing situation as they did not want a radical’s motion approved – even though they wanted to let the bill go.
The debate ended that day with the draft legislation dropping to the bottom of Legco’s agenda, but pan-democrats wanted the bill removed so the government could not table it again.
“The pan-democrats seem to have this thorn in their heart ... but with [the motion’s approval] the bill will be completely shelved,” Lam said.
But there are also controversial plans that Lam only agreed to push back. They included district council plans to spend HK$100 million on signature projects, a police request for funds to upgrade their computer systems and the medical registration bill, which will allow the government to appoint four more lay members to the Medical Council, breaking the balance of elected and appointed members.
“We accepted lawmakers’ suggestions with the biggest sincerity, but the government also has its principles and views about the items’ urgency and priority ... so we will handle the items that are easier to get approved first,” Lam said.
The minister also warned that dozens of public works funding requests totalling about HK$60 billion still needed Finance Committee approval. She hoped pan-democrats would follow past practice that if a request was discussed in the public works subcommittee, the debate would not need “to start all over again” in the Finance Committee.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1932893/hong-kong-government-lawmakers-agree-push-back-contentious
