1
Transcript of the Governor's media session
Following is the transcript of the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten's media session after officiating at the inauguration of the 29th term of the Heung Yee Kuk today (Tuesday):
Question: Can we have your response to this JLG meeting this morning when they said that we are spending too much in social welfare It's like a formula one car which is going to crash and kill all six million people...
H+
Governor: I think that people in Hong Kong will be astonished to hear Chinese officials suggesting that we should make savage cuts in our provision for the elderly, for the disabled, for those in need, that we should slash our programmes for kindergartens for the young, for education for our children. I think it is astonishing. People in Hong Kong have earned the money for these community programmes through their own hard work, and of course we can afford them. When people talk about driving cars, what they should remember is that according to a very well known, prestigious American think-tank which reported at the beginning of the week we are the best car drivers in the world. They've just put us top of the league for managing the economy and one of the things that they've underlined is our very sensible and prudent control of public spending. So, I think everybody should stick to what they know about and not get involved in areas where they are not particularly expert. Of course, the question of how much Hong Kong spends on its welfare and social programmes will have nothing to do with any Chinese official after 1997. It's entirely a matter for the people of Hong Kong and for those who govern them and those who represent them. Hong Kong people running Hong Kong means Hong Kong people running their schemes for the elderly, their schemes for the disabled, their education programmes, their health programmes. So I hope we won't hear any more of this sort of suggestion. I've pointed out before and it remains true that as a proportion of the community's income, the state will take less in 1997 than it was taking in the early 1980's. When European countries, when American countries look at our sensible control of public spending, when they see that we keep it below 20 per cent of our GDP, they are overwhelmed with admiration for the fact that we've managed to provide decent community services for people in Hong Kong without ever jeopardising the strength of our economy. So I think that people should leave us to drive our own car and I'm sure that they'll be able to get some good tips from us as we continue to cruise along the road.
Question: Will
you
be bringing this ... expenditure.. of the JLG in the future?