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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council will hold a meeting this Wednesday (January 16) at 11 am in the Chamber of the Legislative Council Building. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on coping with inflation.
The motion, to be moved by Dr Hon YEUNG Sum, states: "That, as the inflation cycle has returned recently, quite a number of public transport operators and public utilities have applied for increase in fares or charges, and the prices for food and oil supplies continue to rise, thus aggravating the burden on the public, this Council urges the Government to adopt measures to cope with inflation so as to alleviate the pressure of livelihood on the public; such measures should include:
(a) assessing the publicˇ¦s affordability when considering applications for fare increase by public transport operators;
(b) lowering the rates of permitted return of the two power companies to single digit so as to reduce electricity charges when formulating the new Scheme of Control Agreements;
(c) discussing with the Mainland authorities to further open up the livestock market in order to protect the interests of Hong Kong consumers, and requesting the major food suppliers to ensure the supply of major food items and foodstuffs from the Mainland so as to prevent the prices of food items from increasing heftily due to insufficient supply; and
(d) increasing the amount of Old Age Allowance to prevent the quality of life of the elderly from declining."
Hon Frederick FUNG, Hon Tommy CHEUNG, Hon CHAN Kam-lam, Hon CHAN Yuen-han, Hon Emily LAU and Hon LEE Cheuk-yan will move separate amendments to Dr Hon YEUNG Sumˇ¦s motion.
Members will also debate a motion on protecting the rights and interests of animals. The motion, to be proposed by Hon Albert HO, says: "That, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Bill 2006 was passed by this Council last year to increase the penalty for cruelty to animals, yet incidents of animal cruelty still continue to occur; in order to protect the rights and interests of animals, this Council urges the Government to adopt various measures to ensure that animals are protected under the law; the relevant measures should include:
(a) comprehensively reviewing and amending the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance, including reviewing the definition of cruelty to animals and making abandonment of animals an offence of animal cruelty;
(b) improving the licensing and regulatory system for the sale and breeding of pets and consulting the public before amending the Public Health (Animals and Birds) Ordinance and the relevant regulations, extending the animal registration system to cover cats and other kinds of animals that are commonly kept as pets, improving the licensing and regulatory system for pet shops and breeding farms, introducing legislation to regulate the sources of animals for sale in pet shops, requiring that all such animals should come from licensed breeding farms, and stepping up enforcement actions against unlicensed breeding, so as to stop the entry of animals from unknown sources into the pet market;
(c) enhancing the transparency of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department in its handling of stray dogs and cats, treating the animals kindly, abandoning the ˇ§Trap-and-Killˇ¨ method, cooperating with community organizations in jointly promoting the ˇ§Trap-Neuter-Returnˇ¨ programme, and using humane means to deal with the problem of stray dogs and cats, with a view to reducing their number in the community;
(d) requiring law enforcement officers to actively handle the reports on cruelty to animals from the public, considering drawing on overseas experience to set up ˇ§animal policeˇ¨ teams specially tasked to investigate cases of animal cruelty and abandonment, and rigorously enforcing the law to curb the situation of animal cruelty and abandonment from becoming prevalent; and
(e) studying the provision of places at suitable locations for animals to move around, including providing more parks and leisure venues which are accessible to dogs and cats."
Hon WONG Kwok-hing, Hon Audrey EU, Hon CHOY So-yuk and Hon Mrs Selina CHOW will move separate amendments to Hon Albert HOˇ¦s motion.
On bill, the Munsang College and Heep Yunn School (Change of Corporate Names and General Amendments) Bill 2008 will be introduced into the Council for First and Second Readings. Debate on the Bill will be adjourned.
During the meeting, Members will also ask the Administration 20 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the Legislative Council InfoFax Service (Tel: 2869 9568) or the Legislative Council web site (http://www.legco.gov.hk).
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Legislative Council Chamber. They may reserve seats by calling 2869 9399 during office hours. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Members of the public can also listen to the meeting via the audio webcast system on the Legislative Council homepage.
Ends/Monday, January 14, 2008
Issued at HKT 17:44
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