RECORD of the MEETING of the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Held 26Th April 1989
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Qll#9 RECORD OF THE MEETING OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL held 26th April 1989 : RECORD OF THE MEETING OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL HELD IN STANLEY ON 26TH APRIL 1989 PRESIDENT His Excellency the Governor, Mr W H Fullerton PRESENT MEMBERS Ex-Officio The Honourable the Chief Executive (Mr R Sampson) The Honourable the Financial Secretary (Mr J H Buckland-James) Elected The Honourable A T Blake (Elected Member for Camp Constituency) The Honourable J E Cheek (Elected member for Stanley Constituency) The Honourable R M Lee (Elected Member for Camp Constituency) The Honourable L G Blake OBE JP (Elected Member for Camp Constituency) The Honourable E M Goss MBE (Elected Member for Camp Constituency) The Honourable T S Betts (Elected Member for Stanley Constituency) PERSONS ENTITLED TO ATTEND The Commander British Forces (Air Vice Marshall D 0 Crwys-Williams) The Attorney General (Mr D G Lang) CLERK Mr P T King PRAYERS Prayers were said by the Reverend J W G Hughes RAF APOLOGIES were received from the Honourable C D Keenleyside and the Honourable Mrs C W Teggart The President Honourable Members, we have two principal items of business before us today: the Legislative Council (Privileges) Bill 1989 and a motion by the Honourable the Chief Executive on Seamount. Before we begin ITd like to extend a warm welcome to both our new Financial Secretary, Mr John Buckland-James, and to the Chief Executive, Mr Ronnie Sampson himself, on the occasion of their first meeting of Legislative Council. It is a pleasure to have them with us. Both I know have impressed us with their enthusiasm and the interest they take in matters pertaining to the Falklands and both bring a wealth of experience which I am sure will be of great value to us all. Honourable Members, the meeting is now open. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL (PRIVILEGES) BILL 1989 The Honourable The Chief Executive Your Excellency, this Bill is the Legislative Council (Privileges) Bill 1989. It has been brought forward because no legislation has been enacted providing for the privileges, immunities and powers of the Legislative Council and such legislation would, in any case, be urgently required. The enactment of such legislation has been given a special iraperitive by the desire of Councillors publicly to debate the Seamount report and for it to be published. This Bill entitled the Legislative Council (Privileges) Bill 1989 has been drafted as in the title. I therefore beg to move the first reading of the Bill. The Bill was then read a first and second time. At the Committee Stage the Attorney General proposed an amendment, which had been approved in Executive Council on 25th April, which substituted the following for Clause 2 of the Bill: The Attorney General Your Excellency, I wonder before the Council considers the Bill in detail, if I might ask that Clause 2 of the Bill be amended to read as follows: "In this Ordinance - "a Member of the Legislative Council” includes the Governor or other person presiding at a meeting of the Legislative Council, the Commander British Forces and the Attorney General; and "repetition” means a repetition other than in the Legislative Council or before any Committee of that Council.” The effect of course, Honourable Members, will be to define what the word "repetition” means in Clause 3 1 of the Bill. The amendment was adopted and the Bill passed through its remaining stages without further debate or amendment. MOTION BY THE HONOURABLE THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE "That the Report to His Excellency the Governor into the affairs of Seamount Limited, so soon as a copy of it is received by the Clerk, be published with the authority of this Council." Hie Honourable the Chief Executive Your Excellency, It is contemplated that a copy of the Seamount inquiry report, when it is received by you, will be passed to the Clerk of the Legislative Council because an undertaking was given by your predecessor that the Report might be debated by the Council. It will be necessary for that report to be printed, which may be printing in a traditional form or other copying for Members to be able to read it. It is suggested that it is necessary to avoid delay that the necessary resolution should be passed before the Report is received so that there is no delay and the Report can be debated at the budget session of the Legislative Council. That is why this will require a resolution to be passed at this Legislative Council meeting as was the Bill that has just gone through its formal reading. The Honourable L G Blake QBE JP Ifd just like to clarify one thing in the introduction. The Honourable the Chief Executive said that when the Report is received by the Clerk it will be copied and circulated to Council for later debate in the budget session of the Legislature. As I read the Motion, Sir, it is that the Report will be published, which means that at that point it is for public information also. Could he confirm that that is the intention? The Honourable the Chief Executive That is the intention. I am sorry if I accidently mislead you, Sir. The Honourable the Chief Executive Your Excellency, mercifully it is a very easy subject for me to sum up. There is complete agreement on this matter. I think it is, if there were something that I had to choose to introduce for a first introduction, this matter of being involved in privilege being brought as part of the Government’s new responsibility is perhaps one of the most interesting and is one that shows that democracy has reached a very mature stage here in the Falkland Islands and I think the fact that it is going to be exercised in having a full and detailed examination of the Seamount affair in every way is a useful exercise. Thank you Sir. 2 MOTION FOR ADJOURNMENT The Honourable the Chief Executive Your Excellency, I beg to move that this House stands adjourned sine die. The President The Motion is that this House stands adjourned sine die. Does any Honourable Member wish to speak? The Honourable A T Blake Your Excellency, Honourable Members, I don't want to delay the meeting very long, I would just like to sincerely welcome to this House the new Chief Executive, Mr Sampson, and sincerely hope that we are going to work and run the country together in the spirit in which things have started. I would also express my delight in seeing the return to the Colony of Mr Mike Summers and his wife, and Mr Graham Gleadell. I think that the trend that we are setting, as we develop, is a very worthwhile one and I welcome them very warmly back to the Islands. Sir, that is all I have to say. The Honourable J E Cheek Your Excellency, Honourable Members. I'd like to second the welcomes already given by the Councillor for Camp, Mr A T Blake. Pm not sure if my memory serves me right but this is probably the first meeting since the Financial Secretary arrived and Ifd also like to extend a welcome to him. I am sure that with Mr Blake it was just a slight loss of memory there and no discourtesy was meant. The Bill, the reason why we came here this afternoon, was very short but I think it was very important and I hope it will, in the minds of those who have doubts about how we treat the Seamount affair, set their minds at rest and that we do mean business. We, if it is necessary, will dig into and discuss every point of that matter, no matter how distastful it might be. I know we are going to meet again in the next few weeks at the budget session, but I would like to mention one or two things regarding the main department I have an interest in which is Education. ITm doing this because I know there is considerable concern at the moment over one or two things, Firstly over whether our new Senior School will go ahead. I know I can assure people that a Senior School will go ahead. What is in doubt at the moment is a matter of timing. People may have heard that this coming financial year weTre not quite as rich as some people may have thought. All I can say personally is that I will be doing all I can to ensure that any delays, if there are any, and I will try and see that there aren't any delays in the building of a new Senior School, will be kept to an absolute minimum. The other thing that is causing concern amongst some parents is the matter of the Camp sports holiday. As far as Fra aware there is at the moment....Councillors are at the moment not considering 3 r either abolishing or not considering abolishing the Camp sports. I know there is concern in Stanley that the Camp sports holiday severely disrupts the childrens’ education, I will not comment on that at the moment, but the matter has been raised and the concern is felt by parents in Stanley, not necessarily, and certainly wasn’t raised by Legislative Council Members, What the outcome of their concern will be I don’t know. Just one thing I would like to correct. I think it was in the Penguin News shortly before it closed, someone was talking about the Camp sports holiday as being a long-held tradition in the Islands.