XN000022-1995-10-12 — Page 13

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I had two days of vigorous debate and discussions with Director Lu. I belong to a tradition where because you have a vigorous discussion with somebody doesn't mean that you lose respect for that person, and I certainly haven't lost my respect for Director Lu's commitment to a successful transition here in Hong Kong. He is a professional, he is a distinguished public servant, and I look forward to future discussions with him, lively though they may be, and I trust they are not too charismatic.

Mr Lau Chin-shek (in Chinese): Well, the work-force, the labourers, if they heard you are scrapping the Labour Importation Scheme, I am sure they will say that you are most charismatic. And yet, we have this scheme which is making life extremely difficult for them. And then you mentioned the stopping of the scheme; I was about to rejoice, and yet, immediately, we learnt of the Supplementary Labour Importation Scheme and if you look at that, then by 1996, if we have an additional 6,000, then the number would be even greater than in September. And then the General Labour Importation Scheme in fact is not a standing arrangement, but the Supplementary Scheme will be a permanent one.

Now, I asked the Secretary this morning and he said that it is merely a proposal and not a decision. And I asked if I could therefore object to it, and he said that Legislative Councillors will know what to do. So, does that mean that this scheme will come to the Legislative Council, or is it that we will have to resort to a private member's bill to object to it, to overrule it? And yet, Mr Governor, you say that if we have any private member's bill and it is against the general interest of Hong Kong, then you will exercise your right and not give your assent. So, what is going to happen? So, if we object to that and you refuse to give assent to our bill, then how are we going to do things here, and how are we going to assess the situation?

Governor: Well, I hope that we will be able to proceed on a basis of consensus on an issue about which the community feels so strongly. Perhaps I can say, before I hope giving a reasonably comprehensive answer to the Honourable member's question, that I don't think anybody seriously believes that the decisions we take on the importation of labour are going to be the most fundamental and important decisions that we take on job creation and dealing with unemployment in Hong Kong. I don't think that is the Honourable member's view. I don't think the Honourable member thinks that if we did whatever he wants on labour importation, we would suddenly find ourselves, hey presto, creating more jobs than the increase in the number of people coming into the work-force. There are all sorts of other things that we need to do to keep Hong Kong creative in jobs, to ensure that, as has happened over the last three years, we create 10 per cent more jobs perhaps in the next three.