- 2
Transcript of Chief Secretary's speech to media
Following is a transcript of the Chief Secretary Mrs Anson Chan's speech to the press after officiating at the opening ceremony of Hospital Authority Convention 1995 this (Wednesday) morning:
CS: I'd like to wish you all a very happy Christmas. And I hope that your news reporting during the year will be smooth. I hope that the community as a whole will enjoy continued and strong economic growth, that we'll see strengthened co-operation and communication with the Chinese authorities. In particular, I personally hope that we will have a greater progress in a whole host of transitional issues through the JLG and expert group meetings to be set up under the JLG. Thank you.
End/Wednesday, January 4, 1995
Housing Ordinance to be amended
The Governor-in-Council has approved that a bill to update and improve several provisions in the Housing Ordinance should be introduced into the Legislative Council.
The Housing (Amendment) Bill 1995, among other things, will empower the Secretary for Housing to appoint an appeal panel to hear appeals under section 19(1) of the Housing Ordinance and to make appeal rules.
To ensure the independence and impartiality of the appeal panel, the secretary will only appoint non-Housing Authority members to the panel.
At present, the Housing Authority is responsible for the appointment of the panel and the making of appeal rules. This arrangement is not very satisfactory since the authority is a party to the appeals.
The bill also seeks to deter the creation of unauthorised mortgages or charges by making them void and rendering the offenders liable to prosecution.