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MR. MARTIN LEE: Sir, I am indebted to you for allowing me
to address this Council today.
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In the normal course of business in this Council,
a Bill such as the Corrupt and Illegal Practices
Aincintment
(Amenement)
Bill 1987 would be introduced for the First The moving of the and Second Readings 12 days after its publication in the
Gazette, and thereafter there would be a further period of
a minimum of a fortnight allowed for the scrutiny of the
Bill and for public consultation before it would be read
for the Third Time and passed into law. These are the
normal minimum periods necessary to enable Members of the
Legislative Council to discharge their public duty as
legislators. I stress that these are 'minimum' periods
becuase very often after
after the introduction of a Bill into
this Council, it becomes apparent that
necessary to ensure that it receives proper scrutiny
before being passed into law and in these cases, further
time would be given.
further time is
However, in the case of the Corrupt and Illegal
Practices (Amendment) Bill 1987, I regret to say that the
Government, for the wholly inexcusable reasons, is seeking
to abrogate the normal minimum scrutiny period. The Bill
was gazetted just five days ago and the Government intends
have it enacted next Wednesday. Whilst legislators
certainly have a duty to respond
to respond constructively in
in cases
to