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The Governor's broadcast on Policy Address
Following is the full script of the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten's radio and television broadcast on the 1996 Policy Address today (Wednesday):
This is the last time I'll give a policy address in Hong Kong. It's the last time any Governor will give a policy address. Next year it'll be a job for the Chief Executive. So today I had a slightly different task from the last four
years, Mind you, it's very important to show that Government is keeping going, keeping working in your interests and we intend to do that right up to the wire on the 30th of June next year and then the Chief Executive will want to see that it happens after that as well. But today I had a slightly different job. Of course I wanted to review where we've got to over the last four years in implementing the comprehensive programme of change and renewal that I set in hand in 1992. That programme: on education, on training, on health, on welfare, and so on, has been doing extremely well. We'll pretty well implement everything we promised by 1997, and we've been very honest today about how much progress we are making.
Some people denounce part of that programme, what we've done to help the needy and the disadvantaged, as welfarism. Frankly I don't think that's a charge that will stick. This is a well-off society. It's a civilized society and I think we want to see those who are in need prudently helped to get back on their feet again. That's what any decent city should do and this is a decent city. It's worth remembering incidentally that Hong Kong spends on welfare rather less than it spends every year on cosmetics and perfume. Success in Hong Kong has enabled us to keep that programme going, and it has enabled us to set some new sights for the future. We've set out 400 new policy commitments which develop our programmes in environment, in transport, in law and order and so on so that this can be an even better governed city.
How do we manage to do all this? Why is Hong Kong successful? Hong Kong is successful, though it's got no natural resources, because of your hard work, because of your skill, because of your energy and all those things have combined with the rule of law, with a decent clean meritocratic politically neutral civil service, with all the freedoms that you'd associate with a civilized city, which have made Hong Kong perhaps the freest city in the whole of Asia. That's why Hong Kong has been so successful and I want to see those ingredients of success continue well into the future.