Poverty Commission set to define poverty line
Oxfam chief says advisory body is close to reaching 'consensus' on recommendations for tackling the plight of city's poorest people
A recognised poverty line for Hong Kong should emerge after the Commission on Poverty's inaugural meeting today, a member of the body said.
"It's a fairly agreed-on consensus already. It's best to not waste time arguing over it," Oxfam Hong Kong director general Stephen Fisher said.
Fisher, former director of social welfare, said all necessary statistics were already available, and were refreshed every quarter, so no additional government expenditure on research would be needed to calculate the figures.
Apart from tackling the poverty line, the first meeting is expected to cover the basic ground rules with "nothing new, but all necessary", Fisher said.
He hoped the commission would be able to make concrete suggestions to the government, then press it into action.
The previous commission was disbanded after two years, and a report in 2007 had little impact on the policies of then-chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's administration. The current commission is headed by chief secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, and comprises four officials and 18 non-official members, including Fisher.