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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting this Wednesday (December 3) at 11am in the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on adhering to the need to 'put Hong Kong people first' in formulating policies.
The motion, to be moved by Mr Gary Fan, states,"That this Council urges the SAR Government to proactively handle China-Hong Kong conflicts, and to adhere to the need to 'put Hong Kong people first' in formulating policies; the relevant policies should include:
Immigration –
(1) in accordance with Article 22 of the Basic Law, to exercise the power of the SAR Government to vet and approve the entry under the dual vetting and approval system of the One-Way Permit for immigration for serving properly the gatekeeping role on the long-term population policy of Hong Kong;
(2) to amend Article 24 of the Basic Law to abolish the right of abode in Hong Kong enjoyed the babies born locally to parents who both are not Hong Kong permanent residents (commonly known as 'doubly non-permanent resident babies');
Education –
(3) to expeditiously review the teaching effectiveness of the implementation of the scheme of 'Using Putonghua to Teach Chinese Language Subject' in primary and secondary schools, and to formulate an independent language policy for Cantonese for protecting its official status at policy level, so that students will not depart from the local culture in their learning, thereby affecting the cultural inheritance in Hong Kong;
(4) to reduce the existing admission rate of over 80% for Mainland students to funded tertiary programmes, and to give priority to local students in allocation and use of local education resources;
(5) to require kindergartens to admit 'schooling within the home district' students, and the Education Bureau should allocate the projected surplus Primary One places in various school nets to a '37th school net' for selection by 'doubly non-permanent resident students', in order to avoid the need for local students to attend school in other districts;
Economic development -
(6) to cap the number of visitors under the Individual Visit Scheme and immediately abolish the measure of allowing Shenzhen residents to visit Hong Kong on the one-year multiple-entry Individual Visit Endorsements (multiple-entry endorsements), so as to reduce the impacts caused by a large number of Mainland visitors on local residents;
(7) to revise the Dongjiang water purchase agreement to an agreement for charges based on supply quantity to reduce the expenses incurred by Hong Kong for purchasing Dongjiang water, and to focus resources on studying desalination technology to facilitate desalination to become a major source of water for Hong Kong in the long run;
(8) to stop conceiving 'white elephant projects' for blindly pursuing the objective of integration between Hong Kong and Mainland, and to ensure the large-scale infrastructure development can meet the long-term needs of Hong Kong people to avoid further cases of persistent delay of works and cost overrun in infrastructure projects, resulting in wastage of public resources;
(9) to protect the rights and interests of local workers and oppose importation of labour blindly; and
Welfare -
(10) to revise afresh the residential requirement under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme and present a relevant bill to the Legislative Council for scrutiny in accordance with the legislative procedures to ensure that Hong Kong permanent residents may receive social welfare protection with priority."
Ms Claudia Mo, Dr Helena Wong, Mr Christopher Chung and Mr Tang Ka-piu will move separate amendments to Mr Gary Fan's motion.
Dr Fernando Cheung will move a motion on the Report of the Joint Subcommittee on Long-term Care Policy. The motion states,"That this Council notes the Report of the Joint Subcommittee on Long-term Care Policy."
Ms Claudia MO will move a proposed resolution under section 34(4) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to extend the period of amending the Dangerous Dogs Regulation (Exemption) (Amendment) Notice 2014 and the Rabies (TNR Programme) (Exemption) Notice, laid on the table of the LegCo on November 20, 2014 to the meeting of January 14, 2015.
On bills, Members will resume Second Reading debate on the Sex Discrimination (Amendment) Bill 2014. If the Bill is supported by Members and receives its Second Reading, it will then go through the Committee stage and be read the third time.
During the meeting, Members will also ask the Administration 22 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.
The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo Website (www.legco.gov.hk). Please note that the agenda is subject to change, and the latest information about the agenda could be found on the LegCo Website.
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. They may reserve seats by calling 3919 3399 during office hours. Members of the public can also watch or listen the meeting via the web broadcast system on the LegCo Website.
Ends/Monday, December 1, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:40
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