Minutes - 8th Meeting Of Exco

CONFIDENTIAL

The Civic Party 8th meeting of the Executive Committee Date: May 2, 2006 Time: 6:30 p.m. Venue: 10/F New Henry House Present: (1) Albert Lai Kwong Tak (acting Chairman), (2) Audrey Eu Yuet Mee, (3) Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, (4) Margaret Ng Ngoi Yee, (5) Gladys Veronica Li, (6) Ronny Tong Ka Wah, (7) Chan Ka Lok, (8) Alan Leong Kah Kit, (9) Stephen Char Shek Ngor, (10) Bill Lay Yan Piau (11) Amy Yung Wing Sheung, (12) Mandy Tam Heung Man, (13) Claudia Mo Man Ching (14) Vincent Ng, (15) Mark Williams In Attendance: Tsang Kwok Fung, Joseph Chan Cho Wai (part of the meeting) Items (1) Members endorsed the agenda distributed earlier. (2) Members adopted the minutes of the last meeting. (3) Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting a) Premises S-G reported that the lease contract was finally signed last Friday. ExCo earlier had endorsed a resolution authorizing S-G and CAO to sign the contract on behalf of the party. Vincent would proceed to finalize the cost of renovation by quoting different contractors suggested by ExCo members. Mark would help to supervise the renovation work and to advise on the accounting procedures. b) Election Committee Ronny reported that at this stage, activities related to the elections of Election Committee members would be limited, as the respective responsible persons would quietly recruit candidates in their functional constituencies. Activities would step up after the summer holidays. c) Recruitment of Legislator S-G contacted the legislator; he would consult his trade union in its central committee meeting in mid-May. CP would expect an answer after that.

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(4) Chairman’s Announcements Chairman was on leave. Albert is the acting chairman of the meeting. (5) S-G’s Report ExCo accepted the S-G’s Report, including the appeal for monthly contributions. ExCo also endorsed the proposed resolution on the budget for the party premises’ renovation work, and the authorization for Vincent. The following issues in the report were discussed: a) CAO was asked to speed up the signing of an employment contract with Simon Szeto, the technician of the Secretariat. b) Chairpersons of branches indicated difficulty in preparing budgets for their branches. Ronny suggested that quarterly budgets would be prepared. The Treasurer was asked to prepare a budget for the Party Centre first so that the branches could work within the framework. Besides, CAO was also asked to study and inform the ExCo LegCo’s guidelines on members’ expenditure. c) ExCo adopted two principles on branches’ expenditure: legality and party reputation must be accorded top priority; and party centre should be treated as the funding source of last resort. d) Mark had prepared a standing order form for donation. CAO was asked to prepare a Chinese translation and upload the form on the party’s website. (6) Party Leader’s Report Members accepted the PL’s report. Some items were further discussed: a) Bulletin Board PL noted that the Bulletin Board had already been set up but not yet launched. CAO clarified that the Secretariat was still drafting operation guidelines and had invited some members of HKI Branch to do a pilot test. CAO pledged that the Secretariat would demonstrate the Board to ExCo in its next meeting.

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b) Friends of the Party PL was concerned about the administration of the Friends of the Party. It was considered that a clear policy and a designated ExCo member to administer the Friends of the Party would be necessary. S-G clarified that a paper had already been tabled by S-G and CAO which would address most of the concerns of ExCo. ExCo accepted the paper; and suggested that “registration forms” should replace “application forms”. Stephen was invited by ExCo to organize a committee to administer the Friends of the Party activities. He was also asked to study the expectations of the party among this group. c) Convert Surveillance Margaret added that the C&G Branch would prepare a paper with 10 Q&A on the proposed legislation on convert surveillance. ExCo agreed. d) District Council Review Margaret reported that the C&G Branch would hold a discussion forum on DC review on May 5 ( Friday). Ka Lok and Amy agreed that they would prepare a draft paper for the party in response to the consultation. The C&G Branch would discuss it first. Albert suggested that the party should look beyond the political reality, and put its emphases on decentralization and sustainable development. Ronny added that the party should work with the other Pan-Dem on the issue. Ronny was asked to take up the liaison work. e) Merger of Two Railways Ronny, Mandy and Mark would be studying the issue, and would prepare a paper for ExCo’s consideration. f) Rental Review of Public Housing Bill, Alan, Mandy and Ka Lok would be preparing a paper on the issue. Alan was invited to be the convener. g) DAB Membership List The Secretariat was asked to check the membership list of DAB. CAO was asked to follow the matter under the guidance of Mark. Minutes of 8th ExCo meeting 02/05/04

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(7) Branch/Committee Chairpersons’ Reports ExCo received reports from the NTE, EPF and ESD Branches. The following issues were discussed: a)

Branch Budget ExCo noted that the NTE Branch had prepared a Branch budget. It would be passed on to the Finance Committee for its consideration.

b)

SOCO Forum Bill reported that he had participated in a public forum on behalf of the party on rental review of public housing organized by SOCO last Sunday. His views were compiled in Appendix I. Mandy reported that the Wong Tai Sin District Council had also discussed the issue. Ka Lok added that the party should work with grassroots organizations on it.

c)

Policy Forum Margaret suggested that the party should organize Monthly Policy Forums for party members to discuss various policy issues. It was then proposed that the first forum would be held at the end of May on the public housing rental review. Fernando was asked to take up the issue. Both suggestions were accepted by ExCo.

(8) Dual Membership ExCo noted the dual membership incident. Claudia was asked to continue her contact with the member concerned. The party line would be not to make any public comment on individual cases. (9) Strategy to Articulate the Party’s Position on “Minimum Wage” Cho Wai introduced his idea of forming a task force to deliberate on the party’s general position on socio-economic issues. The task force should consist of academics inside and outside the party. PC would be the convener. Experts in four areas were proposed: a) Political economy: Lui Tai Lok and Stephen Chiu b) Social policy: Wong Hung, Chua Hoi Wai and Chong Chan Yau Minutes of 8th ExCo meeting 02/05/04

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c) Economics: Tsang Shu Kei, Tang Shue Hung and Edward Chen d) Political philosophy: Cho Wai It was proposed that Cho Wai would send invitations to the above-mentioned academics. PC would also help. A supporting research officer would be recruited for the task force. Margaret would ask if Rowena Kwok would be interested. It was also proposed that the task force would produce an interim report by March 2007 and a final report by March 2008. ExCo endorsed.

The meeting adjourned after dinner at 10:30 p.m.

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Appendix I　CP’s Views on Public Housing Rental Review Drafted by Bill Lay

對公屋租金政策檢討諮詢文件的初步意見：

(1) 要求主動諮詢公屋輪候冊居民 房委會表明一旦推行建議的不劃一租金制度，將先在新落成屋邨推行，加 上其公屋租金政策檢討的內容亦將直接影響公屋輪候冊居民。 這批居民一 旦初入公屋居住，將成為首當其衝受新政策影響，又同時是最需要資助房 屋資源幫助的一群，但由於他們都是散居於舊市區的租客，難以透過有效 的渠道或團體了解諮詢內容及表達意見。房委會有責任主動郵資諮詢文件， 資助獨立研究，以及安排舊區諮詢會等靈活方式客觀收集輪候冊居民的意 見。 (2) 租金與入息比例中位數仍是較可取的指標 房委會提出的四個租金調整參考指數，雖然其中每個月平均入息指數有若干 優點。但在實行上仍有重大困難，尤其難以獲得公眾的理解及支持。況且，房 委會在最近改善租金援助計劃的措施中，仍是以租金與入息比例作為參考指 標。綜合各方面的考慮，租金與入息比例中位數仍是較可靠、可行及普遍獲公 眾接受，用以釐定租金調整的參考指標。我們亦將反對立法取締租金與入息 比例中位數作為衡量公屋居民負擔能力指標。 (3) 必須衡量綜援戶的負擔能力 綜援戶要自行分配其綜援標準金額及特別津貼，以至運用其工作收入負擔其 公屋租金。綜援戶作為公屋居民的重要組成部分，佔愈全體租戶的五分之一， 同時亦是公屋居民中弱勢的一群，其負擔能力反而值得重視而非忽視。我們 Minutes of 8th ExCo meeting 02/05/04

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強烈反對在制定公屋租金中剔除綜援的建議。 (4) 反對剔除差餉及管理費，扭曲公屋資助性質 公屋作為保障基層住屋權益的安全網，一直發揮穩定社會的重要作用。貿然 將差餉及管理費自公屋租金劃分出來，容易令人誤解公屋租戶長遠應自行 負擔差餉及管理費。 況且繳交差餉是房委會作為業主的責任，而管理費佔公屋租金高達三成交 (29%)，亦反映其組成部分(包括改善工程及管理人酬金等)，有必要提高透 明度及進行全面的檢討。我們反對在公屋租金中剔除差餉及管理費的做法。 並進一步要求房委會就公屋管理費進行全面的檢討，並向居民發放詳細資 料，加強管理費用的透明度。 (5) 不劃一租金效益付代價大 不劃一租金一方面不會增加房委會的整體租金收入，但卻被公屋團體及居民 猛烈抨擊，一旦推行恐會造成更大的官民對立、社會分化；另外，對於輪候 冊居民亦因其負擔能力限制而實際減少其選擇，最終造成浪費公屋資源的負 面影響。我們建議房委會切勿強行實踐所謂「較為全面」的不劃一租金，以免 浪費人力及公屋資源，破壞社會和諧。

草擬者：賴仁彪

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