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Newsletter - Oct 2007
2007-10-15 NEWSLETTER OF THE HON. MARGARET NG Room 116, 11/F., New Henry House,10 Ice House Street, Central, Hong Kong Tel: 2869 8317 Fax: 2179 5190 email address: margaret@margaretng.com Website: http://www.margaretng.com 15 October 2007 Dear Colleague LegCo Report 2006 – 2007 My LegCo Report 2006-2007 is being distributed by email. You can now download the Report from my website. To save paper, only a small number of copies will be made in the print version. Please let me know by phone or by letter if you want a copy. “VIP card” for tea gatherings In 2004, we were obliged to charge $30 each for our tea gatherings for those requiring CPD points, because of the expenses involved. I am grateful for your understanding and co-operation in making the payments. Strict accounts have been kept. Your support has resulted in a small surplus. To ensure that it goes back to you, I am issuing a “VIP card” to all who have attended 5 or more paid gatherings, which entitles the holder to free attendance for this year’s programme. Those who have attended fewer than 5 will qualify for a “VIP card” when they have reached that level. Administration may mean a small delay, so please bear with us. CE Policy Address LegCo’s 2007-2008 session commences on 10 October with Chief Executive Donald Tsang’s Policy Address. Entitled “A New Direction for Hong Kong”, it is really “old wine in new wineskin”, notable for major infrastructure projects, tax cut for the rich, and a cautious approach to helping the poor. The one outstanding exception is the commitment to 12 years post-kindergarten free education which he has adopted, without acknowledgement, from the CE election platform of Alan Leong. There is little about the law or legal system. The Secretary for Justice is mentioned for his continuing role of heading a cross-sector working group to “map out plans to employ mediation more extensively and effectively” (para.85), and his new appointment to head “a high-level inter-departmental task force … to combat juvenile drug abuse” (para.86). This has attracted press comments that the SJ is getting to be more of a “minister” in the “cabinet” than the Government’s first law officer. It is important that the SJ does not allow his political role to compromise the detachment and independence required as law officer. The Panel of Administration of Justice and Legal Services will hear the SJ on his legal work plan on 22 October. While the public’s concern in global warming, air quality and heritage conservation is acknowledged, commitment to actual measures to be taken is still elusive. The key issue is property development driven by the sole aim of maximizing return as a result of high land prices. The Government remains unwilling to address the questions of land policy and town planning procedure. The sole concession to the public outcry against “wall effect” building developments of “a slight reduction of development density” (para.44) tells all. On democratization, we are completely overwhelmed by the CE’s amazing revelation in the RTHK interview on 12 October. In explaining the opposition between democratic reform and governance apparently assumed in the address (para.102), he said that the Cultural Revolution was democracy in extreme form. If this is how the CE sees democracy, we must ask whether he is fit at all to lead the SAR Government, let alone bringing about democracy for Hong Kong. Legislative Timtable The Government has not yet released the legislative timetable for the coming and last session of this LegCo term. However, some major bills are already disclosed. These include the bill to establish an authority for the development and management of the West Kowloon Cultural Complex, apparently with powers beyond West Kowloon. This bill will have far-reaching effects and is likely to be complex. Also to be scrutinized is a bill amending the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance to extend it to the CE under a special procedure. I intend to chase up the Government to introduce legislation on limited liability partnership and amending the criminal Legal Aid fees regulations to put lawyers’ fees to a more realistic footing. The Land Titles Ordinance, already enacted in 2004 but has not yet come into effect, is currently undergoing substantial amendments. Completion is expected of the bills reforming Civil Justice procedure, the Domestic Violence Ordinance, introduction of enforcement of mainland judgments, the Companies Ordinance with respect to financial disclosure, and dealing with race discrimination. Talks and Friday Tea Gatherings I am grateful to Alexander King S.C. for giving a talk on “Tackling the ICAC” on 26 October, to Nigel Kat and Ian Brownlee for a workshop on Town Planning Procedure on 2 November and to Cheng Hoo for sharing his experience in China practice on 7 December. Please consult the attached programme. Judge Lallah, a distinguished Judge and member of the UN Human Rights Committee, will give a talk on Article 25 of the ICCPR on Universal Suffrage at 4:30 p.m. on 6 November at the Foreign Correspondents Club. This is sponsored by Justice and seats are limited, but you are welcome to attend. District Council Election: Sunday, 18 November District Council is or should be the most direct level of participation in district affairs. Who are elected as District Councillor does matter. Please do your civic duty and vote on 18 November. Yours sincerely Margaret Ng |
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