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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1992
BUT LET ME MAKE ONE VERY IMPORTANT POINT ABOUT PROPOSALS FOR TAKING DEMOCRACY FORWARD. THERE WILL COME A POINT WHEN THIS COUNCIL WILL HAVE TO GIVE ITS DECISION, WHEN THIS COUNCIL
COUNCIL WILL HAVE TO MAKE ITS OWN MIND UP ON HOW WE SECURE A DEMOCRACY FOR
FOR THE FUTURE, BECAUSE I WILL HAVE TO COME TO THIS COUNCIL WITH LEGISLATION ABOUT 1994 AND 1995 AND THIS COUNCIL WILL HAVE TO FACE DIFFICULT AND DEMANDING DECISIONS, TAKING ACCOUNT OF WHAT IS SAID IN PEKING, TAKING ACCOUNT OF WHAT IS SAID IN LONDON, AND TAKING ACCOUNT OF WHAT IS SAID ON THE STREETS OF HONG KONG, I THINK THAT THE PROPOSALS I HAVE PU'T FORWARD ARE REASONABLE AND I HOPE THAT IS THE VIEW OF THIS COUNCIL AND OF THE PEOPLE OF HONG KONG. I HOPE THAT IS THE VIEW OF PEKING IN DUE COURSE, THOUGH MAYBE I WILL HAVE SOME EXPLAINING AND ARGUMENTS TO DO FIRST.
ON HUMAN RIGHTS, I THINK THAT THE BILL OF RIGHTS WAS AN IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT IN OUR ATTEMPT TO SAFEGUARD CIVIL LIBERTIES.
I THINK IT WAS AN IMPORTANT STEP FORWARD TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT UNDER MY PREDECESSOR, AN IMPORTANT STEP FORWARD TO ENSURE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE JOINT DECLARATION, AND WE HAVE TO TAKE ACCOUNT OF IT IN A NUMBER OF AREAS OF PUBLIC POLICY, NOT LEAST, AS I SAID YESTERDAY, IN A NUMBER OF ORDINANCES THAT HAVE AN EFFECT ON PUBLIC ORDER AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH, ON BOTH OF WHICH WE ARE UNDERTAKING, AS THE HONOURABLE MEMBER WILL KNOW, A REVIEW.
SO WHILE I RESPECT THE HONOURABLE MEMBER'S POSITION AND KNOW THAT IT IS, AS EVER, ARGUED WITH ELEGANCE AND FIRE,
VERY MUCH HOPE THAT SOMEWHERE BETWEEN HER CAUTION AND OTHERS RECKLESSNESS, OR THE OTHER WAY ROUND, I WILL BE JUDGED TO HAVE GOT THE POINT OF BALANCE RIGHT.
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MR PETER WONG:
YOU'VE ADOPTED A TRADITIONAL AND VERY SUCCESSFUL FORMULA, THAT GOVERNMENT SPENDING MUST FOLLOW AND NOT OUTPACE ECONOMIC GROWTH. THIS HAS BEEN TAKEN TO MEAN GROWTH IN GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE SHOULD NOT OUTSTRIP GDP GROWTH. THE FIVE YEAR IN MEDIUM TERM FORECAST ALREADY SHOWS THAT THE EXPENDITURE OF GOVERNMENT WILL BE CREEPING FROM ABOUT 17% OF GDP TO ABOVE 20. YOUR PROPOSALS WILL ADD ABOUT PER YEAR OR ROUGHLY 1% OF EXTRA GDP GROWTH. SO, ARE YOU NOT BREAKING YOUR OWN RULES ABOUT THE LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE?
UP
5%
/GOVERNOR: NO