In Brief
Move on prisoner voting law
An amendment to current laws allowing prisoners to vote will be gazetted at the end of the month and submitted to the Legislative Council on May 6. The amendment bill comes after a High Court judgment in August that ruled that the policy of removing the right to vote from all prisoners was unconstitutional. The draft bill was approved yesterday.
Tsang firm on labour abuses
Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has reiterated that the government will present a bill that will make non-payment of Labour Tribunal awards a criminal offence and another on the statutory minimum wage, in the Legislative Council by July. The chief executive was speaking at a Labour Day reception hosted by the Labour Department.
Anson Chan enters 'two team' row
Former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang has urged the chief executive to declare that Hong Kong has only one governing team, in response to an article by the central government liaison office's head of research, Cao Erbao . At a seminar at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, Mrs Chan said she was disappointed the government had not denied the claims.
New think-tank launched
A new Hong Kong think-tank has been established. The Hong Kong Ideas Centre has 34 advisers, with Hong Kong Economic Times chief Lawrence Fung Siu-por as chairman and Anna Lai Wong Oi-ling, former deputy executive director of the Trade Development Council, as executive director. It will study competitiveness, economic and social development and life quality.
