Falklands : The Hon Mr Gavin Short: Motion for Adjournment Speech 23 July 2012
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 30.07.2012 (Article Archived on 13.08.2012)
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we might as well get the two long ones out of the way first this morning although I must say I think my son probably has achieved what a few of you and the public wish you could have – much shorter than normal adjournment speech.
The Hon Mr Gavin Short: Motion for Adjournment Speech 23 July 2012
Transcript by J. Brock (FINN)
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, we might as well get the two long ones out of the way first this morning although I must say I think my son probably has achieved what a few of you and the public wish you could have – much shorter than normal adjournment speech.
I would like to start by paying tribute to the Badminton Club for making a real, live genuine Olympic torch town here in the Falklands. Although being handled very quietly, they have arranged for the torch to be seen in many, many places including penguin rookeries, at the West Store and Acorns - to name but a few. I believe they are on their way to the school at some stage and I know of one wee lad that was rather impatient to get a look at it. Once again, many thanks to everyone who has been involved in making this happen.
I have noticed something over the last few months that has rather saddened me but isn’t a new phenomenon as I saw exactly the same thing happen many years ago. Even though oil hasn’t started to flow, could possibly be a long way off happening, one never knows and you can only count on the stuff when it’s gurgling up the pipe, the moneys that have been generated by the exploration side has flowed through the community. But instead of causing a sense of happiness, it has had the opposite effect. Some people are becoming anxious and, indeed unhappy, just as happened when the money from fisheries started flowing into our economy. Unlike fisheries, I would say that the oil money has flowed much deeper into and through our economy with many people benefiting directly and indirectly from it.
Central Government has also benefited. It is here that I think the cause of unhappiness can be traced to. I suspect that there were many who were expecting a realistic wage rise, a black topped MPA Road, Camp Roads brought back to where they should be and the re-introduction of the Pound a day, etc.
Although I am probably going to get into trouble with certain sections of the Media for lecturing, it won’t be the first time that they have mildly chided me and most certainly won’t be the last. I would like to have a little muse about a few things and look forward to my Colleagues around the table adding to what I have to say and indeed rubbishing it as we really do need to start having a lively public debate on just what it is that we, the people of the Falklands really want from what I suspect is an almost certain exploitation of our hydrocarbons. Maybe I will just ask a bit before the beginning. Nothing is certain. It would seem there will be a breakthrough in a year or 18 months and direct exploration activity once the boys down south finish doing their thing. We then await the return of the North Basin Crew. They now have their buy-in partner and if everything goes exactly to plan we should see things starting to ramp up again after that year or the 18 month break – maybe?
Cunning plans do go wrong, dates can slip, world-events can overtake things. I am not trying to make you beat down the Pharmacy door looking for anti-depressives. I think exploitation will happen but I am merely trying to enter a note of realism to say let’s not get too excited before we see the big prize. The buy-in partner does mean, though, that we as a Government and society have to start making things happen.
A trigger point has been reached. We must start seriously planning for the coming exploitation. But just what should we be planning? What should we be doing? As announced we do have people being hired to give us the advice that we need. We must get the best advice on fiscal matters that we can. There must and will be a socioeconomic study done so that we can get a handle on just what the impact is going to mean to our community.
And there is infrastructure. We have already started by putting money in for the alternative water supply. We may have to beef up roads, areas for dumping spoil, environmental protection, even things like, is our fire brigade equipped for what may come – not just from the expansion of oil yards but the greater number of houses that will surely come. There is a myriad of things that we will have to get to grips with, including immigration. This will, in a way, flow from a socioeconomic study but I firmly believe this is a debate that almost has to be started now for us to do all the work that is going to be needed to be done before exploitation. We are going to need people. As a Government we are in such a state that we are critically short of people to do all the work that we have planned in our capital programme, let alone all the extras that will surely come.
We are, as I say, in such a state that we probably only can crush rock or lay blacktop but we may not be able to do both at the same time. We have been losing good people to the oil industry and I do not blame them for going where there is better money. And we around this table and, indeed those in the private sector who are being a bit tight fisted at the moment are going to have to wake up and smell the coffee. We have employees who may well be quite content to stay with us, or whichever employer they are with. But eventually, unless we up our game, they, too will go.
Even if the Government does the correct thing and ups its wages, it looks very much like we will have to import labour. This also brings other problems like where they will live. Bringing in a group of people will have an impact on the town and the social structure. We are back to immigration. Should such people and those who will surely follow when exploitation really takes off, be kept as Work Permit holders and we protect the core population. We are surely going to get many folk trying to beat a path to our Islands when money starts to flow. Money has that affect. Maybe we should carry on as we are and put a cap on the amount of people who can gain residency and keep it where it is. As this allows for integration and cohesion for, in my humble view, if we allow almost unfettered immigration the native population and those long-term immigrants, who are fully integrated into our community would quickly become outnumbered in their own country and start to feel alienated.
If you look around the world you can see this in many places. We have a chance here to get it right but being such a small population, any sudden change in incomers can have a disproportionate effect. We really must be careful but more important than that, we must somehow start a public debate on how we want the Falklands to look population wise.
When we get to exploitation and we have money we will then face other problems that may make us unhappy as a community. We could all look around and see that some of our infrastructure is getting shabby. Wages and pensions are set way behind what they should be. We will probably want a cinema and that bowling alley and why not. We will have the money and I, for one, think that we should spend a little on nice things for our population. There’s the MPA Road, Camp Tracks – the list just goes on and on.
Now here is the problem – how do we want to go about it? Gradually or maybe we will want it all done at once. This is something that I can understand. It’s human nature, which brings us back to people. We won’t have enough. So we are back to importing labour. We will surely be able to afford it but the influx of a large amount of people is going to cause a strain on our community and change the social dynamics. As I said earlier, do we wish this or not? How can we know if the debate does not happen?
Everything I have spoken of so far is materialistic – things that we must have or may want and it is probably the perceived need of these materialistic things both within the Islands and our personal lives that will cause the unhappiness in our small community that I alluded to earlier.
I hope that we manage all this well and as well as the materialistic things, which to a point are important, we don’t allow it to further erode that thing that maybe we can call ‘community’ that makes the Falklands what it is. All problems but in a world that is going downhill fast, these are nice problems to have. We have a wonderful country which also has an undoubtedly wonderful future.
One other thing, come the money and apart from putting up wages and pensions back to where they should be – and I do hope I am sitting at this table when exploitation starts – whoever else is sitting here will support me in that wish, I will also campaign for the reinstatement of the Pound a day. What a wonderful scheme it was as it cut right across the social spectrum and helped everyone get that bit of cultural ventilation. It didn’t matter whether you were the great boss or the lowliest worker. You got exactly the same. What a great social leveller it was.
Finally, before sitting down, I would like to return to the sporty things, I congratulate the FIDF Team on their success at Bisley. But also we must not forget our rifle shooters, who were also over there and did the Falklands proud. I feel sure that the whole House would joine me in congratulating all those involved.
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