Minutes of the 1St Special Meeting of North District Council (2020-2023)
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(Translation) Minutes of the 1st Special Meeting of North District Council (2020-2023) Date : 29 January 2020 Time : 2:38 p.m. Venue : North District Council Conference Room Present Chairman: Mr LAW Ting-tak* Vice-chairman: Mr CHAN Yuk-ming* Members: Ms LAM Tsz-king* Hon LAM Cheuk-ting* Ms LAM Shuk-ching* Mr CHOW Kam-ho* Mr YUEN Ho-lun* Mr CHAN Wai-tat* Mr KWOK Long-fung* Mr KO Wai-kei (2:38 p.m. – 5:11 p.m.) Mr CHEUNG Ching-ho, Franco* Mr CHEUNG Chun-wai* Mr WAN Wo-tat, Warwick (2:38 p.m. – 4:25 p.m.) Ms WONG Hoi-ying* Mr CHIANG Man-ching* Mr LAU Ki-fung* Secretary: Ms CHU Wai-lin, Francoise Senior Executive Officer (District Council), North District Office Remarks: * Members who attended the whole meeting ( ) Time of attendance of Members Action In Attendance Mr CHONG Wing-wun, JP District Officer (North), Home Affairs Department Ms KWONG Ting-lok, Maggie Assistant District Officer (North) 1, Home Affairs Department Miss LAM Tsz-yan, Gloria Assistant District Officer (North) 2, Home Affairs Department Item 1 Dr WONG Ka-hing, JP Controller, Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health Miss LI Fung-yuk Senior Housing Manager/ Applications 2, Housing Department Mr CHAU Kim-hung, Andy Architect 79, Housing Department Absent Mr LEE Koon-hung, MH Mr LI Kwok-fung Mr HAU Chi-keung Mr HAU Fuk-tat, Simon Ms CHAN Yuet-ming Mr CHAN, Vincent Chi-fung Opening Remarks The Chairman welcomed the representatives from government departments, staff from the North District Office (“NDO”) and the Secretariat, as well as Members to the 1st special meeting of the North District Council (“NDC”). As the special work arrangement for government departments was implemented, he extended his gratitude to the Secretariat staff for their help in making possible the holding of today’s meeting as scheduled. He also thanked Members for their commitment to work and attending the meeting. He particularly welcomed Dr WONG Ka-hing, Controller of the Centre for Health Protection (“CHP”) of the Department of Health (“DH”), Miss LI Fung-yuk, Senior Housing 2 Action Manager/Applications 2 of the Housing Department (“HD”), and Mr Andy CHAU, Architect 79 of the HD to the meeting to take part in the discussion and respond to Members’ questions. 2. The Chairman said that the Secretariat had received emails from 15 Members requesting the NDC to hold a special meeting today so as to discuss the following items … (When the Chairman was speaking, an observer of the meeting shouted loudly, and the Chairman’s speech was therefore interrupted.) 3. The Chairman said that according to Order 15(2) of the NDC Standing Orders (“Standing Orders”), if a person attending or observing a meeting of the Council acted in such a way as to disrupt the orderly conduct of business of the meeting, the Chairman might issue warnings to the person. The Chairman then issued a warning to that observer for the first time. (The observer continued to shout loudly.) 4. The Chairman ordered the observer to leave the place of the meeting as the observer persisted with such acts after warning. The security guards then removed the observer from the conference room. 5. The Chairman continued that he believed the representatives from government departments and the observers in the room could feel the anger of the residents in North District. However, as required by the Standing Orders, he had the duty to ensure the orderly conduct of business of the meeting, so that the departments concerned could address their questions accordingly. He hoped that Members could show basic courtesy and the residents observing the meeting could behave in an orderly manner so that the meeting could be conducted smoothly. 6. The Chairman said that two items would be discussed at the meeting, including: (1) Department of Health’s proposal to use Fai Ming Estate as a temporary dormitory for quarantined frontline medical staff; and (2) Reports that two visitors from the Mainland with fever were not refused entry at Sha Tau Kok Control Point on “humanitarian grounds”. The Secretariat had served a notice of meeting to all NDC Members on 27 January. Besides, the Secretariat had received five impromptu motions on the day of the meeting for discussion. The motions had just been distributed to Members for perusal. The five impromptu motions were: 3 Action (1) To request for making immediate arrangements for the NDC to inspect epidemic prevention work at the boundary control points in the district; (2) To request for curtailing the permitted period of stay of Mainland tourists in Hong Kong; (3) To request for complete closure of the borders; (4) To condemn the Government for its incompetence in epidemic prevention; and (5) To request for assurance that there were adequate supplies of face masks, disinfectants and protective equipment for use by the community. Combined discussion and voting on the motions would take place with regard to their type and nature. If there was no comment, he would seek approval from the meeting to include the five impromptu motions in the agenda. 7. Hon LAM Cheuk-ting said that he could not hear his impromptu motion “To condemn Carrie LAM for her incompetence and request for immediate closure of the borders” in the Chairman’s remarks. He asked the Chairman which of the motions quoted earlier was moved by him. 8. The Chairman responded that it was the motion “To condemn the Government for its incompetence in epidemic prevention”. 9. Hon LAM Cheuk-ting said that he would like to read out the impromptu motion moved by him. 10. The Chairman said that something might have gone wrong with the documents. He hoped that Members could show understanding to the Secretariat staff who needed to arrange for the meeting to take place during public holidays. He then rectified that the fourth impromptu motion moved by Hon LAM Cheuk-ting should be “To condemn Carrie LAM for her incompetence and request for immediate closure of the borders”. 11. The Chairman said that under Order 13(2) of the Standing Orders, subject to the consent of more than half of the members of the Council present at the meeting, the Chairman might approve the inclusion of an impromptu motion in the agenda. If there was no other comment or objection from Members, he would seek the approval from the meeting to include the above five impromptu motions in the agenda. 12. The meeting endorsed the inclusion of the above five impromptu motions in the agenda. 13. The Chairman said that after the discussion on the two agenda items 4 Action as planned, the meeting would move on to discuss and vote on the impromptu motions. Given there was no representative from the Immigration Department (“ImmD”) in attendance, he suggested discussing Item 2 before the discussion of Item 1for the smooth running of the meeting. 14. The meeting agreed to the arrangements for the agenda items made by the Chairman. Item 2 - Reports that Two Visitors from the Mainland with Fever Were Not Refused Entry at Sha Tau Kok Control Point on “Humanitarian Grounds” 15. The Chairman said that the ImmD and the DH had provided written responses regarding this agenda item. The written responses (set out in Annexes I and II) were placed on the table for Members’ perusal. He read out the responses briefly. The ImmD said that they were unable to send representatives to the meeting due to heavy commitments and workload. With regard to the said media report, the ImmD clarified in its written response that the department had not handled any case involving visitors from the Mainland with fever at Sha Tau Kok Control Point on 23 January. 16. Pointing out that there were a number of control points in North District including those at Lo Wu, Sha Tau Kok and Man Kam To, Mr LAU Ki-fung considered that the ImmD had the obligation to attend the meeting to give an account of the matter even it had provided the written response. It should not try to explain the incident away with a letter. He considered that it was very irresponsible of the ImmD to do so. 17. Mr CHOW Kam-ho agreed with Mr LAU Ki-fung’s comments. He said that in view of the gravity of the issue, it should not be the case that the ImmD did not send any representative to attend the meeting. Even though the incident might be a rumour, the ImmD had the obligation to give an account of the matter at an NDC meeting and to explain how it would handle the cross-boundary visitors at the control points who were presented with fever or suspected to be infected with the disease. 18. Mr CHIANG Man-ching said that the ImmD’s reply read that “If Members have any comments, the Secretariat is welcomed to relay the comments to us in writing”, which showed the arrogance of the department. He considered such approach questionable, and queried if no staff of the 5 Action entire ImmD was available to attend the meeting. Present at the meeting were Members from political parties, political novices, pro-establishment camp and staff members from the Secretariat of the NDC, yet there was no representative from the ImmD. Besides, the ImmD stated in its letter that it “had not handled any case involving visitors from the Mainland with fever”, in which he drew Members’ attention to the wording “had not handled”. He cast doubt on whether the ImmD had exercised discretion in the case on “humanitarian grounds” without keeping a record of that, and whether specific data were available for giving an account to Members.