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Mr Suen asserted that it was important to recognise that effective legislative measures should be preceded by social acceptance of a general duty to respect the rights of the others.
Turning to proposals on legislation against age discrimination, Mr Suen said the problem of rising unemployment caused by structural changes in the economy should not be confused with that of age discrimination.
Pointing out the fact that the Hong Kong labour market operated on the forces of demand and supply, he said legislation would not affect employers' demand for workers with particular skills and knowledge and thus would not create job opportunities.
He noted that the causes of unemployment was thoroughly debated in early June when the Governor held a summit meeting on this matter.
The Governor also announced a package of 13 measures to tackle unemployment. Positive action is now in hand to implement this series of short, medium and long term measures which include actions to clamp down on illegal employment and to step up enforcement action against abuses of the labour importation scheme and to step up employment service.
On age discrimination, Mr Suen said an undertaking was given to study whether discriminatory practices were contributing to rising unemployment and the Labour Department had started a preliminary survey on this subject.
Asserting that he was not discounting the need to legislate against age discrimination or any other types of discrimination, he said as a responsible Government with the long term interest of Hong Kong in mind, it was essential that the Administration tackled this subject rationally.
Mr Suen pointed out that the Government had clearly set out its position in respect of equal opportunities to Legislative Council Members in no less than four occasions in the past 11 months.
"This is very clear: anti-discrimination legislation is a new area of law in Hong Kong. The social, economic and legal implications of such legislation are not yet fully appreciated by the community at large.
"Therefore, it would not be prudent of us to proceed down the legislative route without first having a chance to examine the problems, analyse the policy options and assess their implications.