We've only just started our work, says Henry Tang
The financial secretary asked legislators and the public yesterday to give the newly formed Poverty Commission a chance to prove itself before criticising it.
'Our committee has just been established and held our first meeting, and straight away there's somebody jumping to conclusions and saying it will not be successful,' said Henry Tang Ying-yen, who chairs the commission.
Mr Tang was responding to a question from lawmaker Emily Lau Wai-hing, of The Frontier, who asked whether he would reform the commission to give it more power and prevent it becoming just another talk shop.
'Many of you here are frontline staff,' he told a Legislative Council subcommittee studying poverty. 'You know that it's not easy to carry out such a task, but it's easy to make casual criticisms.'
Representatives of various socials groups attending the meeting called on the government to devise one or more poverty lines, create a long-term goal for alleviating poverty and give the commission powers to directly tackle the issue.
Some lawmakers and groups also called for a minimum wage to be set.
