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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
Hon Miriam Lau, Chairman of the House Committee of the Legislative Council (LegCo), said that the relationship between the Executive Authorities and the Legislature did not attain much improvement over the past year. She hoped that both branches could maintain an interactive relationship and stay calm to work together on matters of mutual interests.
Speaking at the end-of-session briefing of the LegCo House Committee today (July 12), Hon Miriam Lau said: ：I have once described the relationship between the Executive Authorities and the Legislature as ：stagnant；. Despite the efforts and interactions made by both parties over the past year, the interactions are mainly about complaining each other and this has further worsened the Administration-LegCo relationship；. She pointed out that the Chief Secretary for Administration wrote to the LegCo several times to express dissatisfaction on the repeated used of offensive words and improper behaviours by some Members against public officers during the Council and Committee meetings. On the other hand, Members also queried the intention of the Government not fielding relevant officials to attend the debates on Members・ motions, changing the date of holding Chief Executive・s question and answer session, and removing publicity signboards during the period of the LegCo by-election.
Hon Miriam Lau said: ：I think that both parties should respect each other and adopt an attitude of seeking common ground while reserving differences to improve the relationship between the Executive Authorities and the Legislature in a pragmatic way.；
Hon Fred Li, Deputy Chairman of the House Committee, said that according to the Legislative Programme provided by the Administration to LegCo, the Government had originally intended to introduce 21 bills into LegCo in this session. But at the end of the session, only 16 of them were introduced. In addition to another six bills which were not in the Legislative Programme, the Government had introduced a total of 22 bills into LegCo in the current legislative session.
He said that despite Members・ repeated requests for early introduction of bills, most of the bills were introduced towards the end of the current session. Of the 22 bills introduced into LegCo, 12 were introduced in May this year or later and three of them will even not be introduced until the last Council meeting of the current session to be held this Wednesday (July 14).
Hon Miriam Lau said this situation was undesirable. She hoped that the Administration could regard the LegCo as a partner and let LegCo Members have enough time to scrutinise the bills.
Hon Miriam Lau also described this session as unusual and extremely busy. She added that what was unusual was that the package of proposals for the methods for selecting the Chief Executive and for forming the LegCo in 2012 was approved by LegCo last month only after a 26-hour marathon debate. As the scrutiny of the relevant local legislation will be the next task of the LegCo Members, Hon Miriam Lau believed that when the two related bills were introduced into LegCo in the coming legislative session, bills committees would probably be formed immediately by the House Committee to scrutinise the bills in detail.
In the meantime, besides the Subcommittee to Study Issues Arising from Lehman Brothers-related Minibonds and Structured Financial Products and the Select Committee to Inquire into Matters Relating to the Post-service Work of Directorate Officers formed in the last session, an investigation committee had also been appointed under Rule 49B(2A) of the Rules of Procedure in this session. Hon Miriam Lau stressed that the purpose of forming the investigation committee is to find out the truth of important issues involving public interest and to make recommendations to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents. She believed that members of the public will appreciate Members・ efforts after the investigation committee and the two other committees present their reports.
On duty visits, LegCo Members visited Sichuan in connection with the post-quake restoration and reconstruction work and went to visit Shanghai World Expo and took the Express Rail Link from Guangzhou to Wuhan during the session. Hon Miriam Lau said that the visits were both fruitful and rewarding, and that the visit to Shanghai Expo had achieved the purpose of monitoring the use of public funds from Hong Kong and strengthening Members・ understanding of how different countries promote low carbon lifestyle.
Ends/Monday, July 12, 2010
Issued at HKT 22:19
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