XN000022-1995-11-02 — Page 15

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Let me remind Members what the Governor actually said. He made it clear that the Administration is committed to working together with Members of this Council on behalf of the community we both serve. But he also recognised that the buck ultimately stops with him, and that if he honestly felt that it was necessary in the best interests of Hong Kong, he would have to make use of the constitutional powers granted to him. This was no more than a recognition of the constitutional position. And it certainly was not meant as a threat, and I am frankly surprised that it should have been interpreted as one.

Be that as it may, many Members have expressed their concern that the Administration is not serious about co-operating with this Council, and that we do not take enough account of Members' views and suggestions. This is simply not true. We are fully committed to co-operating with this Council. How could it be otherwise, when we have to obtain your approval for every one of our legislative and financial proposals, without a single vote of our own to rely on? Almost every major piece of enacted legislation reflects the valuable input of Members of this Council. Many of the policy commitments are based on the initiatives and priorities of this Council. Of course, we may not always be able to accept every point that Members put to us. In such cases we will have a duty to do our best to explain our position. But it is wrong to suggest that the Administration must be at fault whenever it does not fully meet LegCo's wishes. Neither of us can claim to have a monopoly of wisdom. The important thing is that we should respect each other's constitutional role, and seek to foster a better mutual understanding and co-operation. Cooperation is after all a two- way process. At the end of the day, the executive has to decide what proposals it wishes to put forward, and the legislature has to decide whether or not it is prepared to accept them.

Two specific areas in which the Governor suggested that cooperation would be useful were in considering whether there was a need for more formal channels of communication between the executive and this Council, and in relation to the programme of legislation that we have put forward for the 1995/96 session. I have already written to the Chairman of the House Committee to set out the issues relating to the handling of Government business in LegCo that we wish to discuss with Members. I understand that the Sub-committee on Procedural Matters will be considering these next week, and I look forward to receiving their views. But I want to repeat now what the Governor said three weeks ago - our hope is that we can move forward by consensus whenever possible, rather than on parallel tracks, and we will spare no efforts to try and achieve this consensus.