*********************************************************
Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, on the Old Age Living Allowance and wage increase proposal after attending a public function today (November 11):
Reporter: Mr Cheung, the vote has been delayed again...... is the Government doing any other things to urge the legislators to vote?
Secretary for Labour and Welfare: I have been lobbying all LegCo members in the past few weeks and I am still making the appeal today that for the sake of the interest of over 400 000 needy elderly citizens in Hong Kong, please approve the proposal as quickly as possible. We will try to catch up on the time lost but certainly the timetable has been affected. But we will certainly try our best to catch up and to roll out the programme as quickly as possible. So an early approval is critical.
Reporter: You have been lobbying for quite a period of time now. Is the Government trying to do anything else......?
Secretary for Labour and Welfare: We have dealt with all the questions exhaustively at the meeting on Friday night. In fact, in the six-hour meeting, all the questions have been fully dealt with, answered completely. We have also provided a paper in reply to 33 questions put to me by the pan-democrats. All have been exhaustively dealt with. It's not a problem of asking questions, it's the question of dealing with the motions moved by individual members. I urge them, for the sake of the interest of over 400 000 senior citizens, please approve the proposal quickly.
Reporter: (about the level of wage increase proposed by labour unions)
Secretary for Labour and Welfare: It's much depending on the market situation and individual sectors. You can't apply a universal rule across the board. Much depends on how individual sectors perform and the overall economy.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Sunday, November 11, 2012
Issued at HKT 14:41
NNNN
