Thursday 25Th February 2021
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P R O C E E D I N G S O F T H E G I B R A L T A R P A R L I A M E N T AFTERNOON SESSION: 3.09 p.m. – 11.47 p.m. Gibraltar, Thursday, 25th February 2021 Contents Standing Order 7(1) suspended to proceed with Government Statement .............................. 3 Tribute to former Minister Hubert Corby ................................................................................. 3 COVID-19 update – Statement by the Chief Minister .............................................................. 7 Standing Order 7(1) suspended to proceed with Government Bills ...................................... 15 Order of the Day .................................................................................................................. 16 Bills ................................................................................................................................................. 16 First and Second Reading ............................................................................................................... 16 Petroleum (Amendment) Bill 2021 – First Reading approved ................................................ 16 Petroleum (Amendment) Bill 2021 – Second Reading approved ........................................... 16 Committee Stage and Third Reading .............................................................................................. 19 Petroleum (Amendment) Bill 2021 – Committee Stage and Third Reading to be taken at this sitting ...................................................................................................................................... 19 Petroleum (Amendment) Bill 2021 – Clauses considered and approved ............................... 19 Petroleum (Amendment) Bill 2021 – Third Reading approved: Bill passed ........................... 19 Standing Order 7(1) suspended to proceed with Private Member’s Motion ......................... 19 Private Member’s Motion .............................................................................................................. 20 International Agreement on Taxation and the Protection of Financial Interests – Debate commenced ............................................................................................................................ 20 The House recessed at 7.06 p.m. and resumed its sitting at 7.25 p.m. .................................. 47 International Agreement on Taxation and the Protection of Financial Interests – Debate continued ................................................................................................................................ 47 _______________________________________________________________________________ Published by © The Gibraltar Parliament, 2021 GIBRALTAR PARLIAMENT, THURSDAY, 25th FEBRUARY 2021 The House recessed at 9.40 p.m. and resumed its sitting at 9.50 p.m. .................................. 72 International Agreement on Taxation and the Protection of Financial Interests – Debate concluded – Motion not carried ............................................................................................ 72 Suspension of Standing Orders ...................................................................................................... 89 Standing Order 7(1) and 19 suspended to proceed with Government motions ................... 89 Government Motion ...................................................................................................................... 89 International Tax Agreement with Spain – Addition to Schedule 11 of the Income Tax Act 2010 – Motion carried ............................................................................................................ 89 Adjournment .................................................................................................................................. 93 The House adjourned at 11.47 p.m. ....................................................................................... 93 ________________________________________________________________________ 2 GIBRALTAR PARLIAMENT, THURSDAY, 25th FEBRUARY 2021 The Gibraltar Parliament The Parliament met at 3.09 p.m. [MR SPEAKER: Hon. M L Farrell BEM GMD RD JP in the Chair] [CLERK TO THE PARLIAMENT: P E Martinez Esq in attendance] Standing Order 7(1) suspended to proceed with Government Statement Clerk: Thursday, 25th February 2021, Meeting of Parliament. Suspension of Standing Orders. The Hon. the Chief Minister. 5 Chief Minister (Hon. F R Picardo): Mr Speaker, I beg to move, under Standing Order 7(3), to suspend Standing Order 7(1) in order to proceed with a Government Statement. Mr Speaker: Those in favour? (Members: Aye.) Those against? Carried. Tribute to former Minister Hubert Corby 10 Chief Minister (Hon. F R Picardo): Mr Speaker, before I address the House on matters related to updating on the COVID pandemic, we agreed last time, when we received late in the day of our last session … that we would today have an opportunity to speak with a little more consideration about the sad passing of former Member of the House and former Minister the Hon. Hubert Corby. I already said a few words at the last session, and I have had an opportunity since then to write 15 to the family. Indeed, I have had an opportunity to reflect that, contrary to what I told the House last time, I was not a Member of the House at the same time as Hubert Corby was a Member of the House, but I sincerely thought that I was because, when I was a Member of the House, Hubert was still here, not sitting on these benches but he would come very regularly to sit in the Gallery. When I would pop downstairs for coffee he would invariably be there, and although we were on 20 different sides in the sense that we were members of different political parties, he was invariably encouraging of me. I think it was the Hon. the Leader of the Opposition who said, last time, that Hubert was one of those people who was not a tribal politician, he had friendships across the floor of the House, even when he was active in politics, which he was very happy to promote. I remember that when I was in opposition I would see him downstairs for coffee, or I would 25 see him here, just across the Bar of the House, and he would often say to me, ‘Sigue, niño, sigue,’ in his usual style. I remember that after a particularly hard, as they were in those days, session of the House with the Hon. the former Chief Minister having given me one of those hell-for-leather days which I consider to have been a part of my political apprenticeship – the other, of course, at the even less merciless hands of the former leader of my party, who would not forgive a mistake 30 even today if he can avoid it, as hon. Members know – Hubert took me to one side as I was walking out of the House, put his arm around me and said to me, in punctilious Gibraltarian which I can still remember, ‘No deje que te haga depressing pisha, Peter es así, pero no es malo,’ which loosely translated means, ‘Do not let the bastard get you down,’ or words to that effect, as they sounded to me at that time, (Interjection) although it certainly did not feel as if Peter was not bad then. ________________________________________________________________________ 3 GIBRALTAR PARLIAMENT, THURSDAY, 25th FEBRUARY 2021 35 I am reminded that Hubert had cause to come and see me by the time I was Chief Minister. He called on me, and I remember saying to him, ‘¿Por qué no me dice “niño” ya?’ now that I was in office – ‘Why do you no longer call me niño?’ – and he replied with his usual flair and his usual joy and with a twinkle in his eye. Despite the difficulties and many issues he was facing, which were what brought him to see me, he looked me in the eye and said, ‘A tí, sí, te digo “niño” – al Chief 40 Minister, no,’ – loosely translated as ‘Of course I call you “boy”, but not the Chief Minister.’ I do remember laughing very heartily with him as a result. Mr Speaker, I certainly am greatly saddened also by the circumstances of his passing. As ever with Hubert, I know that his wish would be that the circumstances of his own death should not be in vain and that lessons should be learnt from it. I am sure the whole House will join me in 45 expressing, once again, regret to see him go, as a former Member and as a friend to all of us, wherever we might sit on these benches. Mr Speaker: The Hon. the Leader of the Opposition. 50 Hon. K Azopardi: Mr Speaker, I wholeheartedly associate myself with the remarks of the Chief Minister. On behalf of myself and everyone who sits on this side of the House will, I am sure, join me in associating myself with those remarks in support of the tribute to Hubert. I first met Hubert when I was around 16, as a young tennis player at Sandpits. He was already a bit of a legend in racquet sports in Gibraltar, in tennis and squash. He was not involved in politics 55 at that stage, but he was still at Barclays Bank; little did I know that, years later, we would be colleagues. He was someone who struck you immediately, despite the age difference, as someone who connected with all ages – encouraging, always able to speak on any issue of concern with anyone he met. He was – as I said on the first occasion, where we had just a moment’s notice to reflect on 60 Hubert passing – he was the epitome of someone who was not a tribal politician. In the early 1990s, when I had a fledgling first outing into politics, he was the kind of guy who would stop you in the street – I was not in the GSD then – to congratulate you on your opposite point of view. That is the