Falklands : Falklands LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 24/07/2009 Part 3
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 29.07.2009 (Article Archived on 12.08.2009)
Motion for Adjournment Speeches
RC: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, it’s with mixed feelings that I rise for the last time in this Assembly, as I will be away on Assembly business when we meet for the last time before the election.
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 24/07/2009
Motion for Adjournment Speeches
RC: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, it’s with mixed feelings that I rise for the last time in this Assembly, as I will be away on Assembly business when we meet for the last time before the election. I had been wondering what I should say at this time and I happened to meet Norma Edwards who retired at the end of the last Council. And I asked her what she did and she said that she wrote a few words down on a piece of paper and when she arrived at the car-park she opened the door and it blew away into the sea. So she had to make it up. That really wasn’t very helpful.
If I could mention the Islands Plan on Health objective at 11.1, I see that I should have been dead for two and a half years. And I can assure everybody I have every intention of achieving the 2013/14 target.
As I am retiring I thought this would be a good occasion for me to ramble on about my time as an elected Member and give detailed advice to whoever succeeds me. However, you will be relieved to hear that I have avoided a detailed history and only have a few points.
With a new election coming up I hope that anybody who believes that they have something to offer towards the running of our country and have the future of the Islands clearly in view. It’s very easy to sit outside and criticise the actions of the Assembly Members but a very different one when one has to be there to make the decisions.
When I was first elected 12 years ago it seemed to me that the income was secure and we were able to produce a balanced budget, while making concessions almost unheard of in other countries. Today the situation is very different. Our income is seriously reduced due to the lack of Illex income and rising costs. Things that we’ve taken for granted in the past have to be looked at. Any new elected Members will, in the next 4 years, - unless there is a change in our financial situation - have to address important issues and most certainly they will have to be prepared to make and implement difficult and probably very unpopular decisions.
From my perspective the role of a Member should be to make decisions which would enhance the future of our Islands. It is not only the present we serve but the future Islands as well.
I have, in the past 12 years, been involved in virtually every sector of Government – an involvement which has been enjoyable and fulfilling at times and, whilst at others, very difficult.
In particular, part of my responsibilities within the Islands is I’ve been honoured and privileged to represent our Islands overseas on many occasions, particularly with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. (It is) an Association which represents people from over a quarter of the world’s population. I hope I have been able to enhance the knowledge and understanding of our Islands and wish to have the right to determine our own future. And this is through all members of the Commonwealth. I spent a lot of time talking about our right to decide our own future because there is a lot of misunderstanding about that in the world yet.
I would like to thank all heads of department in my portfolio responsibilities – past and present – for their patience and support. And I should also like to thank all the Members I worked with the past 12 years. We not always agreed but I hope that we respected each other’s opinions and our right to hold them.
Finally, it would be remiss of me not to thank Claudette Anderson our clerk and all present and past staff members of Gilbert House. Without their support the job of an Assembly Member would be even more difficult.
Sir, I beg to say good-bye and support the Motion.
MS: Mr Speaker, Honourable members, it escaped my attention that the Honourable Richard Cockwell is not going to be here next month but perhaps I shouldn’t say anything at this stage and follow an age-old tradition and talk about him behind his back in September. I think I probably will say a few words in September but Richard; it’s been a pleasure working with you. You’ve been a very solid Member of Council for all of this time and sometimes you only miss the good things when they are gone and I am sure that ‘s how it feels here.
I have just a couple of words to say today. I’d like to congratulate all the competitors in the recent Island Games. I think they did a tremendous job representing our country and being ambassadors for the Falklands as they always do. Fantastic! With all the good results they should be very proud of themselves.
I was delighted to see in the news in the last day or two that Prime Minister Moratinos of Spain has visited Gibraltar and was photographed shaking hands with Secretary of State David Miliband and Chief Minister Caruana. And he also made a very wise remark that for Spain to achieve its objectives in Gibraltar. They need to convince at least 20,000 people that they are right. This is something rather new for a Spanish Minister to say but isn’t it encouraging that here is the Foreign Minister of Spain standing up in Gibraltar saying Gibraltarians effectively have the right to self determination and it’s about time we recognised it. Good on him. Perhaps their cousins over the water might just have a quick listen and think about whether their approach to life is right or not. Very encouraging!
When I was travelling relatively recently I had the opportunity to meet the new Overseas Territories Minister, Chris Bryant, relatively briefly but it was a positive meeting and of course we welcomed him to his post. Far be it for me to lecture the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom but this is the third Overseas Territories Minister we have had inside three years. It doesn’t do much good quite frankly. They don’t get much opportunity to get into the job, explore the territory, to do the work that they need to do. And it is a very diverse job. And I don’t suppose Gordon Brown will ever be aware that I have said that this is not very satisfactory but it isn’t and I hope looking forward that we can have Overseas Territories Ministers lasting a bit longer. We have invited him to visit. In fact he may come later in the year. We will see.
On a more positive note it was a pleasure to be able to talk to Bill Rammel, one of our old Overseas Territories Ministers, who, of course, is not Minister for the Armed Forces and a very good and positive friend in that area.
Sir that is all I intended to say today.
I support the Motion for Adjournment.
IH: Mr Speaker, Honourable members, in rising to support the Motion for Adjournment. I am sure colleagues will be relieved to hear that I’m not going to speak about Cable & Wireless today, only to mention the fact that I am very disappointed that we haven’t received Dr Chris Doyle’s report yet, or to my knowledge we haven’t. I just hope that it arrives soon because it is a very important document.
It was unfortunate earlier this month that I wasn’t able to attend Farmers’ Week due to weather and other commitments. But I believe it was fairly well attended and from what I am hearing there is a lot of very positive feedback coming out of it. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank SeAled PR the RBA Organisers for the extremely efficient organisation of that event. They did a sterling job.
I would also like to just briefly congratulate Councillor Stevens and Councillor Robertson on their addresses to the C-24 this year. I thought they were particularly good speeches and well delivered. Thank you for that.
And just finally I would like to mention Councillor Cockwell’s retirement. I had also thought that I would say nice things about him today and mention the real stuff in September. We were talking this morning. We have actually known each other for 40 years and not only in my opinion he is a respected colleague but he is a good friend. And I think it is quite fitting that the almost final duty for this Assembly would be for the CPA because not only had he attended many CPA Plenary and Regional Conferences. And, of course you sat on the Executive of that Association for a number of years, which is quite an honour. And that just proves, I think your popularity within the CPA.
And finally I actually have the privilege of being, I believe, the only person in the Falkland Islands who has ever seen Councillor Cockwell in full Fijian National Dress – a sight that will stay with me forever.
Sir, I beg to support the Motion.
JR: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I am going to keep this very brief. I just wanted to say a little bit about the public meeting on Tuesday. I was absolutely delighted – and I know a number of my colleagues were - about the number of young people that turned up. I know for some there it was a bit daunting, some thought it was going to be a waste of time but nevertheless they came anyway and I certainly was very impressed with the contributions that they made and I think there were some very important pointers that we picked up in that meeting. Critically it was about identifying the gap that we have between students’ scholastic life and their work in life. We are probably are not further away than we used to be. In fact, in terms of careers advice and keeping track of our students once they have left the Islands.
I have suggested that we try and take this forward sooner rather than later through the Education Board but it is absolutely critical as one student asked, if it was simply a matter of simply keeping a database and frankly I couldn’t disagree with that. We should be able to keep clear easily retrievable information about our students, what they are studying, where they are studying, when they plan to leave and be able to keep some sort of contact about what they are planning to do once they’ve completed their degree. And certainly the information should be circulated throughout the community and to the private sector as well.
I also mentioned earlier the issue about GCSEs. The fact is that since we have home student status, which has been fantastic from a budget point of view,, from our students’ point of view it dies mean that Universities are not quite so keen to snap up Falkland Islands’ students because they don’t bring the same amount of cash with them that they used to. I actually think that this is not a bad thing as it does mean that our students have to be more competitive.
But I think this message needs to be taken back to the Key Stage 3 children – the Year 9s who are going to be selecting GCSE and must be aware that if you want to do Geography, don’t get a “C” in Geography because you might lose out on a place at University. It’s that kind of message that we have to do more about getting feedback from students.
I wasn’t going to say anything else except again to wish Councillor Cockwell – he’s shaking his head at me – it’s been a great privilege working with you the last four years and I’m a bit disappointed that you decided not to leave us with a lot of sage advice because in my first year of Council I did go with you to the CPA in Nigeria and you gave me one of the best bits of advice I’ve had on Council actually. It was at the moment I was getting rather irate with a rather silly point of view, I thought, that was being expressed across the table. Councillor Cockwell leaned forward and he said, ”just smile and wave” he says and I think that is probably extremely sound advice when you are doing this job. I think we will miss those little gems.
It’s going to be very difficult to find someone to fit those shoes, actually, Richard because there is no doubt in my mind, having gone to the CPA with you, the extent to which so many people know you, like you, respect you and know so much more about the Falklands, thanks to your attendance over the years and your ability to engage people in chat and just to engage them full stop.
So you will be missed and I do hope you enjoy your retirement
Mr Speaker, I support the Motion.
MR: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, in rising to support the Motion for Adjournment I would like to join in the tributes we are all giving to the Honourable Richard Cockwell. And I hear a lot of very good comments being made about you and I totally support them in every way. I regard you as something of a guru and I look forward to seeing photographic evidence of the incident which the Honourable Ian Hansen has reported earlier in these proceedings.
I would also confirm, to the Honourable Ian Hansen that the Doyle Report is not yet here but we hope to receive it soon.
I only want to focus on one particular subject and that is HM Armed Forces.. In recent weeks we have had a number of opportunities to reflect on the courage and commitment of HM Armed Forces. The recent phase started back in June with all the many wreath laying ceremonies at each of the 1982 memorials, culminating at the Liberation Monument on the 14th of June. And all of these are forever etched into our culture as a mark of gratitude for the supreme sacrifice made by so many to protect our right to self determination. Following on after June the 14th was Armed Forces Day just a week or two later when the Falkland Islands joined in particular Gibraltar and the people of the United Kingdom to demonstrate recognition of the relentless pressure under which HM Armed Forces uphold the principles of freedom and democracy wherever it serves around the world.
And then earlier this week there was a brief act of reflection paying respects and renewal of support at Liberty Lodge. For those many members of HM Armed Forces who have, are or are about to serve either in Iraq or Afghanistan. Amongst them, of course, there are several Falkland Islanders as well as a considerable number of serving members of the Armed Forces who pass through the Falkland Islands on a regular basis.
And, of course the recent high casualty rates have demonstrated to us all just how perilous that mission is. And I know we all join in supporting all those brave servicemen and their nearest and dearest tasked with upholding freedom – something very close to our hearts.
Mr Speaker I support the Motion.
AC: Mr Speaker, Honourable members, I would just like to mention a few subjects in closing today. Firstly, following the changes that we brought into force as a result of our budget deliberations just two months ago – I had quite a lot of phone calls myself on a number of subjects and in particular on family allowance and retirement pension contributions. I would just like to take this opportunity to reassure the public in particular on retirement pension contributions in particular if you like equalisation of the system for Government and the fact that the system has gone for Camp – now one system for Camp and Stanley – has had impacts and that that is being looked at and also are some impacts on that particular fact in regard to changes to family allowance. All of those things are being looked into by Government officers and I would just like to reassure those people in Camp in particular also some in Stanley there are some concerned that that work is going on and that we hope we will be able to revert back to them in due course – possibly with a solution – possibly not. We will look at the impacts, how wide ranging they are and what we can do to mitigate them.
I believe that there was a misunderstanding at the end of the public meeting earlier this week with regards to means testing of students who are going away for further education. The misunderstanding is possibly amongst the public that elements of the grant, if you like, the accommodation and food and so on was it means tested? This is not so. The only area that was agreed to the means testing was the pocket money element, not the travel element. It is just the pocket money element which is the £50.00 a week payment which is made by students in those first two years overseas for further education. I just wanted to make that point really in case there was any further misunderstanding in the public.
I would also like to agree with my Honourable colleague with regard to the Public Meeting in general. It was so great to see so many students there and I think we should really do this on an annual basis. I think we did it in our first year following the election and it was a good turn-out then. It is really good to have the opportunity to exchange directly with students when they come back at the end of their academic years to see what they have to say and if there are things we can do to make things more comfortable for them and to help them in their planning and all of those other things. I think that’s great.
Anything I would say is that if there were people who were at that public meeting or students at that public meeting in particular who felt maybe intimidated and didn’t wish to put their hand up and talk in front of such a large audience. They can always e-mail or phone any of us about any issues and we will do our best to follow up on any issues they raise with us.
On the Military, I would like to make a couple of comments because I am not sure how many people are aware but right now we have the Paras here as the RIC and we also have a group of veterans from 1982, in particular some veterans who were involved in the battle at Goose Green and Darwin. And I would just like to take this opportunity to extend a very warm welcome to all of those Paras, in particular to the veterans. As being someone who was there at Goose Green in 1982 I look forward to my opportunity to meet with them over this weekend. I understand we are having a service this weekend at the Cross. I hope that both the RIC and the veterans can get what they need from their visits to the Falklands, for the RIC, in particular, training elements and so on. I hope that’s rewarding for them and for the veterans I hope that we are able to show them what we have been able to do on the back of the sacrifice that they made and also their colleagues and their friends during the conflict in 1982.
Sir, I look forward to communicating that myself directly to those people and I wish them all the best for their visit.
On a final note, I would also like to add my very best wishes to the Honourable Richard Cockwell on his retirement. I don’t know what I will do without one of those sketches we get at the end of every meeting. Cherie’s board will look a bit empty if she puts them on e-bay and sells them all. I would just like to wish you all the best and putting your feet up – or sort of putting your feet up and looking after your grandchildren maybe – or grandchild, Jackson, so all the best to you, Richard.
Sir, I support the Motion.
Chief of Staff:
Mr Speaker, if I could just thank Honourable Members for their words of acknowledgement and support for the British Armed Forces and I would just like to state to the House and to all those listening that our mission in the Falkland Islands is resolute and it is a privilege to support your right to self determination. It’s been our mission for 27 years and it will be our mission for the next 27 years or for however long it is required.
Secondly, I would like to pass on my regards for a long and happy retirement to you, Richard. You were one of the first Members that actually came up, shook my hand and talked to me at the Governor’s House at the first “meet and greet” cocktail evening that I got invited to. He’s stopped inviting me. Perhaps I will be invited again in due course. I wish you a very happy retirement and I hope you burst through those first 13 projections on life expectancy.
And finally and for you – for Mike (Summers) next week we’ve got an Armed Forces Parliamentary visit of some 12 or 14 Members of Parliament from the UK (and) I think some Members of the European Parliament as well. I have 2 staying in my house. If you’d like me to hammer home that message so that it does get back to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, please come see me afterwards.. It will be a pleasure because I support your words completely.
Sir, I also support the Motion for Adjournment.
KB: With the permission of the House, I would also like to wish Richard well in his retirement.
The House stands adjourned accordingly.
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