Falklands : Falklands PUBLIC MEETING REPORT 12/10/22
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 27.10.2012 (Article Archived on 10.11.2012)
A public meeting was held in the Court and Assembly Chamber at 1700hrs on Monday, 22 October 2012. Present were the Hon Dr Barry Elsby, The Hon Mr Mike Summers, the Hon Mr Ian Hansen, the Hon Mr Dick Sawle, the Hon Mr Roger Edwards, the Hon Mrs Sharon Halford, the Hon Mrs Jan Cheek and the Hon Mr Gavin Short.
PUBLIC MEETING REPORT 12/10/22
By J. Brock (FINN)
A public meeting was held in the Court and Assembly Chamber at 1700hrs on Monday, 22 October 2012. Present were the Hon Dr Barry Elsby, The Hon Mr Mike Summers, the Hon Mr Ian Hansen, the Hon Mr Dick Sawle, the Hon Mr Roger Edwards, the Hon Mrs Sharon Halford, the Hon Mrs Jan Cheek and the Hon Mr Gavin Short.
The meeting began with submitted questions from Members of the Public with Tim Miller asking the first three questions. He began by asking that given HamBurg Sud’s very anti-Falklands activities in the shipping world recently - are FIG/FCO taking them to task through the EU because as a European company they clearly have been openly discriminating against an Associate Member State.
As assistant chair on behalf of the Hon Dr Barry Elsby who arrived late, the Hon Mr Roger Edwards said, “On a point of clarity: the Falkland Islands are not an associate Member State of the EU. We are an Overseas Territory and relations with the EU are governed by special legal arrangements quite different to those that apply to full (or associate) Member States and as a result not all EU laws are directly applied here. On the more substantive issue raised, FIG has been in discussions with Hamburg Sud for some time. For whatever reason, they have declined to become involved in shipping activities to the Islands, which we understand to be a commercial decision on their part.”
Roger Edwards said this may not be the answer Mr Miller was hoping for but he and Mr Fotheringham had just been away to an EU meeting of the Overseas Territories Association and had touched on the issue. Dick Sawle said there wasn’t any firm evidence of the firm quoting ultra-high prices. Mike Summers said there is no doubt that the company and others had withdrawn was because of pressure from Argentina and the Falklands were not in a position to relieve that pressure because the EU feels we do not have enough trade to warrant this. If we traded exponentially more the argument might be different. Sharon Halford reassured Mr Miller that Roger Edwards made relevant people in the EU aware of our situation
Tim Miller then asked: Are you aware of the possibility of a visit by the alleged ruby sport players from Argentina again on 8th December and perhaps children being brought with them to play here? What actions will be taken to make any form of play and or interaction with Stanley youngsters impossible without these visitors submitting first to a child security check? Given that such a visit may well result in civil disorder and violence - can these people be refused entry?
Mr Edwards said that on the basics that they have accommodation and sufficient funds to see them through the week they cannot reasonably be refused entry. He handed the question over to the other MLAs. Mike Summers had written to the organisation some while ago advising them the field in front of the school would not be available to them because it was under repair during the planned visit and due to child protection reasons they would not be granted access to the school to go hunting for clients. He suggested that there was a rugby pitch at Mount Pleasant and if they insisted on coming, some land on the racecourse or the old rugby pitch might be available but it would be under fairly strict supervision. Mr Summers said he hasn’t received a reply other than a re-application to come. Mr Summers advised them to read his last e-mail but nothing further has been heard. Ian Hansen mentioned that he didn’t think they would come but our hands were tied as far as letting them in.
Mr Miller asked if they were able to upset people and make them break the law they could be stopped. Mr Summers said such legislation was in place since 2010. Dick Sawle said if it was the case we could stop them coming into the Falklands. Mr Sawle agreed.
Phil Middleton said that there would be parameters if the group wanted to bring children into the Falklands for the visit. They would have to be part of an international overseas organisation, have CRV checks and be under reasonable control. Surely, he surmised, there would be other factors coming into play.
Jan Cheek assumed they would be bringing their own children because one would have to have signed documentation for other children to be carried on LAN flights. Roger Edwards said he would assume that clearances would be given by the country from which they were coming and not from the Falklands. John Birmingham said he didn’t think any police check requested from the Falklands to Argentina would be answered. As for insurance checks, there have been times when the Falklands have been stung on that.
Finally Mr Miller asked if MLAs were aware of the likelihood of a contingent of alleged Argentine "veterans" arriving on 10th November to be present here and make their usual nuisance at this time - given the important visitors we will be hosting that week.
Mr Edwards said the same rules applied to veterans as they did for the rugby players. The Royal Falkland Islands Police are aware of this and if anyone is breaking the law they will be dealt with. He went on to say it is hoped they would not intimidate Falkland Islanders. Tim Miller went on about flag events at Darwin Cemetery. Dick Sawle said there would be ramifications if there were police dotted around the Falklands. It only caused offense of the local population saw it. Even if a policeman or woman had the authority to stop it there would be difficulties in doing so. The last thing we want is Islanders to break the law here. The Argentines are made aware the consternation these sorts of incidents cause. Ian Hansen asked if there was an increase in such incidents and Jan Cheek mentioned a spate of them last summer. Mike Summers said the best thing to do when a person is intimidated by the Argentines is to call the Police instead of telling an MLA in the first instance.
Marilyn Grimmer asked about people claiming they have accommodation and not actually having it. Roger Edwards said presumably they would be in Stanley. He said it was common for several people to use one room. It is up to Customs and Immigration to find a place for someone without accommodation, rather than calling around each place to see who was staying. Mike Summers added that incidents of this kind are rare. Gavin Short and Dick Sawle asked about this at customs. Paul Robertson said there was concern that they might go camping. Indeed, Jan Cheek said our veterans go camping after spending one night in Stanley. Sharon Halford mentioned that veterans must seek the permission of the land owner prior to any camping trip.
Gerald Cheek asked what is the likely revenue FIG will obtain in percentage terms for each barrel of oil extracted from the offshore oil wells?
“The principal sources of revenue to FIG are a 9% royalty on the market value of each barrel of oil sold, and 26% corporation tax on the profits derived from sales. In common with any business, there are certain costs which are allowable in assessing taxable profit.
The final tax take therefore depends on the allowable costs claimed by operators in the course of exploration and exploitation of the resource. It is most likely that the total FIG take will fall somewhere in the region of 25% to 30% of the gross value of the resource, spread over an expected 25 year field life. The actual total in any given year will of course depend on numerous variables including the prevailing oil price and the rate of production, both of which will vary over the anticipated field life of at least 25 years.”
Mr Edwards went on to say that the offer is generous but made more money at $100.00 per barrel than it did when the deal was struck and crude prices were $11.00 per barrel. Oil companies liked the stable 9% percentage which had been in place for over two decades. There also, as Dick Sawle reminded us, no possibility of a government take-over of assets.
Question from Peter Short wrote that recently whilst surfing the internet I clicked on a BBC site www.bbc.co.uk/news/world_radio_and_tv when the page opens you see a normal BBC web page with all the information one would expect to find on a BBC page.
Click on Latin America and scroll down the page and click on Territories you see many territories in the Caribbean also the Falkland Islands. Click on Countries, No UK listed so where do we find Falkland Islands. Click on Argentina and there we are with a big Argentine flag stuck in the South Atlantic East of the Falkland Islands and a ring around a large area which I assume is the Argentines supply. Not something one would expect from a UK site and company.
My question is are we reliant, and supporting, the Argentine economy for the BBC services we receive here in the Falkland Islands.
After checking the site out MLAs discovered that there were templates for each country of origin the request for information comes from. There are templates for the UK as well as for Argentina and Chile. Etc.
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