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Acting Chief Secretary's transcript
"The following is a transcript of the media session by the acting Chief Secretary, Mr Michael Leung, at the Press Room of the Central Government Offices this (Friday) afternoon:
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Chief Secretary: Good afternoon. I think perhaps I should try to explain to you all about this confusion arising from reports this morning on the proposed broadcasting bill by Government. It is important that we should keep the record straight because this is an important piece of legislation. It is highly complex and still in the drafting stage. So that's the first point. We are still working on the complexity of this bill because it is a bill which is designed to update, to rationalise and to consolidate a number of existing ordinances under broadcasting which covers television. It's highly complex because as you know technology changes almost daily on this subject and we've got to catch up with the changes in situation and we need to incorporate the latest technological advances in this very important industry in Hong Kong and to ensure that any piece of legislation is kept update and can meet Hong Kong's future needs. But I want to say categorically the Government has not shelved this piece of legislation at all. On the contrary, we are still working on the drafting of this very complex Bill and we need of course to consult widely as and when we've finished the drafting process. So we are still working on this piece of legislation. In the meantime, as you know, there are other things which are coming up. New technology, new things, for example, video on demand, which is something which is quite new and we ought also to take into account those changes under the proposals. Now it is of course possible that in case the main legislation, the main broadcasting bill, is not able to meet the current needs within the timetable we might of course need to look at other ways of dealing with more urgent subjects, such as a separate piece of legislation to cover more important and more urgent things which are needed. So the options are still open to look at the changing situation and to consider whether this bill is going to cover all the needs in Hong Kong or whether we need to look at other ways of meeting our needs. But let me assure you all that the existing legislation is still sufficient to meet our present demands under our regulatory powers and I think we don't have to worry about the control and regulation in the meantime. But, ideally we must have, I think we should have, a modern piece of legislation, updated, consolidated and revised to meet Hong Kong's future needs. So just to reassure you it is very much in the pipeline. It is still being drafted and we will of course consult widely, industries, all parties concerned and of course we'll take the views into account before we proceed with the final solution.
Question: So how do you explain how this confusion came about. Yesterday the Government said this and today...