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Supporting Business
Next, I wish to respond to the point that the Government should not forget the
1 interests of the non-business sectors of the community. To this, let me say that I agree entirely that the Budget must address all sections of the community. I hope that the details of the Budget demonstrate that we have done exactly that. Yes, we want to become more business-friendly, and we will devote resources to this aim. But the objective in doing so is to benefit everyone in the long run. The whole community benefits through higher incomes, better public services, more investments in our infrastructure, if our business community is more successful.
We recognise that business drives our economy, that the private sector is the engine for generating wealth in Hong Kong. And, by and large, we let the wealth so generated find its own home. However, the Government has a responsibility to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to share in the prosperity created by our economy. We have done this by constructing a safety net below which nobody will be allowed to fall. We have managed to raise this safety net steadily and deliberately over the past few years, precisely because the private sector has generated the wealth, and provided the government revenue, to allow us to do so. This process must continue. Investing resources to create a more business-friendly government will in future produce dividends in which we can all share. This was a message I stressed in concluding my Budget Speech, and I will repeat it here. Wealth generated by the private sector provides the resources for the social improvements we wish to make.
This point is fundamental to what I have called the Hong Kong model of development and progress. We must first make sure that the engine of growth and prosperity is in good running order before we look to our social and infrastructure programmes. But the community wants fairness as well as economic efficiency. It demands that we help the disadvantaged. Let me say a few words here about our proposals for CSSA payments and services for the elderly, a subject of concern to many Members as well as to the public at large. My colleague, the Secretary for Health and Welfare, has spoken about this in some detail today. Let me emphasise what I think is the essential point of the Government's approach to this issue. We have an open mind on the possibility of improving further the welfare system for the elderly. Our objective is to have a system that is effective, fair, affordable and acceptable to the community. We have been, and we will remain, open minded. We will not be complacent. We expect to commission soon a consultancy study on services for the elderly, and I can assure Members that we will consider the findings and recommendations from this consultancy carefully and seriously.
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