bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Tony Cheung

Plans to set up an innovation and technology bureau are facing a further delay after yesterday's Legislative Council meeting had to be adjourned because there weren't enough lawmakers in attendance.
The Legco session was to have debated a government proposal to set up the new bureau - one of 17 items stalled on the agenda before legislators started their summer breaks in July.
But fewer than the quorum of 35 lawmakers - or half the total of 70 - were present when it was due to begin at 9am, prompting NeoDemocrats lawmaker Gary Fan Kwok-wai to call for the quorum bell, which gave people 15 minutes' grace to turn up.
Still, only 34 lawmakers had reached the chamber by the time the quorum bell expired, with Kwok Wai-keung, of the Federation of Trade Unions, running in seconds later.
The meeting was adjourned to Wednesday.

Kwok blamed his tardiness on protest-hit traffic conditions in Admiralty near the government headquarters. "The road conditions are difficult to predict and very different from the usual traffic congestion," he said. "I could not [be dropped off] nearby and could only run from the [People's Liberation Army] barracks."
Including Kwok, the 36 absentees comprised 20 pro-establishment lawmakers and 16 pan-democrats. All five Liberals, and four legislators each from the Civic Party and the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, were absent.
Liberal Party leader James Tien Pei-chun later apologised and promised to ensure his party's lawmakers would attend future Legco meetings.
He said all five were absent because of "business trips or other engagements".
DAB chairman Tam Yiu-chung suggested pan-democrats were mainly to blame for the week's adjournment. "I saw councillor Albert Chan Wai-yip having breakfast," Tam said.
"He did not come back when the meeting started and the bell rang. This is very wrong."
Chan, of People Power, admitted he had stayed away from the chamber deliberately.
"We have made it clear many times that we are strongly against the establishment of the bureau and we would filibuster to stop it," he said. "We believe this bureau is a waste of public money."
Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing called the lawmakers' excuses unacceptable.
"If you oppose a particular resolution, you should stay in the meeting to vote against it," Tsang said. "And this is not the first day of our meetings since [Occupy Central] started either, and lawmakers should have fully assessed the traffic conditions.
"I hope [lawmakers] can attend the meetings with the sense of responsibility that is expected of them."
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Greg So Kam-leung suggested the adjournment would not have a big impact on forming the bureau, as Legco's Finance Committee had yet to scrutinise its funding request, of at least HK$35 million.
People Power's Raymond Chan Chi-chuen warned that they would filibuster at the committee meeting to delay a vote on the funding.


Pan-democrats force Legco tech bureau debate adjournment

Legco president Jasper Tsang says lawmakers' excuses for absenting themselves from the meeting are unacceptable. Photo: Nora Tam

The meeting was adjourned due to an insufficient quorum. Photo: SCMP

Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing said the lawmakers’ excuses were unacceptable. Photo: Sam Tsang

News

Hong Kong

Lawmakers fresh from a three-month break fail to turn up in sufficient numbers to fulfil the quorum, so meeting is adjourned to next week


Plans to set up an innovation and technology bureau are facing a further delay after Legislative Council meeting had to be adjourned because there weren't enough lawmakers in attendance.


Pan-democrats force Legco tech bureau debate adjournment

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Lawmakers fresh from a three-month break fail to turn up in sufficient numbers to fulfil the quorum, so meeting is adjourned to next week

Lawmakers fresh from a three-month break fail to turn up in sufficient numbers to fulfil the quorum, so meeting is adjourned to next week