Falklands : Legislative Assembly Speech by The Hon Mr Mike Summers
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 31.10.2011 (Article Archived on 14.11.2011)
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I will be relatively brief, I think, this morning. (I would) just talk about a couple areas of responsibility.
The Hon Mr Mike Summers:
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I will be relatively brief, I think, this morning. (I would) just talk about a couple areas of responsibility.
I am happy to say that we will have the rural development strategy to Executive Council in November. It’s taken a long time and it’s a shame it hasn’t been there a good deal earlier; we might have more progress in the last couple of years had it gone through its proper process. I again look forward to working with FIDC and the rural strategy co-ordinator to get some more activity in the rural areas and see a bit of movement in the Rural Development Strategy, which is not just there as a few words; it’s there to be delivered. And if I reasonably can deliver it, I will.
In slightly similar words but in a different situation on tourism; there are a number of different organisations and people working to provide good tourism facilities for visitors to the Falkland Islands and there are some exciting possibilities that we can look forward to. I think none of us are convinced that what we have currently is the right structure for developing either the strategy that we have produced or indeed our current offering. And I will be having a discussion this afternoon with some key players in the tourism industry to see if we can put together an alternative structure that will properly service what is now one of our key industries. And I will assure all those people working in the Tourism industry that this is not some kind of scheme to change the way things are done to your disadvantage. It is, in fact, to try to improve the delivery for tourism and give you more commercial opportunities to earn more money and to grow the industry which is what we all must be looking for.
I would like to make brief reference, if I may, of the attendance of our young people at the Commonwealth Youth Games and the Isle of Mann recently. Sonya, Laura, Dominic, Jordan and Sorel represented the Falklands exceedingly well, as they always so. Some people really have an ability to get out and about amongst others and talk and meet and make friends. And of course it is a Commonwealth organisation and they make a real contribution and make sometimes old friends and I hope we will continue to support young people going to not only sporting events but other events like the Commonwealth Youth Parliament that Pippa and Nadia recently attended, which I believe was also a great success. I am looking forward to next year when we are going to be celebrating the role of young people in our society for the 30th anniversary. I hope these young people will be remembered and perhaps considered as people who could be playing a role in that.
Since it is a live issue, I would like to make some comments on access to information. It’s an interesting subject and one that I don’t think anybody will ever think that we ever got right. Not only is it interesting, it’s also exceedingly difficult and every government struggles with this issue and we are no different. I think every government thinks it’s as open as it possibly be and I heard many comments from Members around this table that perhaps this government was more open than any of its predecessors, etc, etc. I don’t think it’s any different, frankly. The problem is that we don’t have sufficient numbers of mechanisms for getting information out and I think that’s the issue we need to address.
One of my Honourable Colleagues mentioned the radio and the Penguin News. The Radio is a one-off. It goes out once – that’s it – it’s gone. Penguin news – once a week – if you miss it, it’s gone; and that’s our real problem.
And I’m not blaming anybody or saying anybody is any better than anybody else. It is a real problem. We must recognise it’s a real problem – let’s not be in self-denial about this. We do not get sufficient information out to the public about what we are doing and how we make decisions and we have to find ways of doing it.
I have no instant solutions. If I had I might have applied them prior to the last election. So let’s look at it collectively. New access to information thoughts are coming out for consultation now. The thinking should be more transparency and more openness – not less. It must always be more. I said regularly that there’s an air of secrecy around at the moment that frankly isn’t necessary and we need to do away with that. So the role of the media is absolutely critical. The way that we develop the access to information ordinance is critical and we have to have a serious think about the number of committees that we now have that have grown in the last two or three years that are not subject to the access to information ordinance but some very serious business takes place there and people don’t know about it. And that’s not good. So let’s be open minded about it – let’s think about it and let’s try to be progressive as more transparency and more openness begs for better government.
Finally a few words about the referendum and I had plenty to say last night so I won’t say too much today. But two of the things you hear on a regular basis from those who propose a single constituency are there are an inadequate number of Camp candidates – maybe – there are also many, many assurances that campers would still be elected. (This is) interesting. Who is going to be electing inadequate candidates that don’t exist? You can’t have it both ways. I don’t think, actually, that the single constituency will solve the problems that we perceive. I don’t deny, indeed I fully support the notion that there is an argument for reviewing the Camp – Stanley representation but not only in terms of constituencies – terms of constituencies, representation and voting systems. And I would urge those who are voting next week – particularly the campers – not to support what I regard as a poor compromise but call for a proper discussion about representation and what would be in everybody’s interest. And I think we have to look at all of these factors before we decide.
I would just like to close by thanking Jim and all his colleagues for the work that they do for us and wish him well in the future.
I support the Motion.
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