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stressed the longer-term pitfalls of uncontrolled staff 2 increases; but again, with due respect to the contrary views of the Senior Member, we cannot realistically
4 expect new tasks not to require additional manpower.
This applies equally in the supervision of the
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securities industry as it does in the flight operations
7 inspectorate of the Civil Aviation Department. Where
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8 good government excels is in hitting the right balance.
And take environmental protection as an example where we do not necessarily want more people and more equipment to just measure increasing levels of pollution we must at the same time have a true commitment to allocate the necessary funds to effectively stop the 14 many sources of pollution which are still proliferating.
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16 Sir, manpower is currently the magic word in Hong Kong.
The tight labour market situation is no lònger the hobby- horse of some pessimists, but a universal headache throughout the business community. It has potentially very worrying longer-term consequences for Hong Kong's reputation as a suitable service centre and base location in the region, for our competitive trading position, and even for the quality of government services. Government's response so far to this problem has been one of head in 25 sand,: It argues that productivity increases, the
26. relocation of manufacturing establishments across the 27 border, more training, additional capital investment, larger female participation in the workforce, the attractions of higher wages, and the expected slowdown in economic growth will easily take care of matters.
But, Sir, these remedies take time, even accepting that they are readily applicable. And they also cost money
33 and thus increase the costs of production. In the 34 meantime, we keep more than 10,000 Vietnamese refugees
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in closed camps at a cost to the Hong Kong taxpayer of almost HK$1 Billion since 1979, with more coming and with
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