1992-01-02 12:31 INFORMATION SERVICES DEPT
852 521 7725 P. 12/13
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SOCIAL WELFARE
A group of social workers, unions and community organisations published a full-page advertisement in the Post yesterday, criticising the Government for lavish spending on infrastructural projects and neglecting the welfare needs of the people. The Post today said the advertisement was the latest move in a dispute over SWD's decision to extend spending cuts to outside agencies. Meanwhile, SHW Libby Wong was quoted as saying that the savings that had to be made were coming from "economising" and "making existing services more efficient", not scrapping them. In an editorial, the Post said the argument that social welfare spending was flexible might serve to enhance the suspicion that the Government lacked real commitment to improving the lot of the needy. The paper said social workers had now joined nurses and doctors in their distrust of the Government.
VM
The Post in the front page said Britain had by end of November only taken in 900 of the 2 000 VMs it promised to resettle by June this year as a gesture of support for HK. Refugee Co-ordinator Clinton Leeks said he was confident Britain would take all 2 000 even though some might not have physically left by June. Foreign Office spokesman Chris Osborne said that in principle Britain remained committed to its promise. The paper said the Director of Refugee Action, Jack Shieh, was in HK to look at the situation and find out why the process was so slow,
LEGCO
The Post said some Legco members had criticised the United Democrats and the Co-operative Resources Centre for making a secret deal on the membership of a Legco select committee on the election review. The two groups had agreed to divide the 12 seats of the select committee among themselves and some independents favoured by them, despite the fact that an election for the committee was scheduled for tomorrow's in-house meeting. A United Democrats member was quoted as saying that the agreement was made to ensure a balanced representation in the committee. Peggy Lam said advance negotiations would avoid unnecessary confrontation in the election.
GROUPS
HKS said pressure groups and trade unions had proposed forming an alliance to make social movements more effective. Social worker Ho Hei-wah said the new alliance, tentatively named the United Grassroots Front, was expected to be a permanent organisation. The paper said 10 active pressure groups and the Conferation of Trade Unions had agreed to become founding members.
In a separate development, the Post said unsuccessful Legco candidate Tony Kan Chung-nin was trying to form a political group with other defeated contestants who held moderate views on China.
OTHER STORIES
HKS said the HK Association of Banks had strongly criticised the Stamp Duty Amendment Bill as complicated and obscure.
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