Govt Poverty Reduction Policies Come Under Fire

Pro-democracy lawmakers on Monday criticised government measures aimed at lifting people out of poverty, saying they are failing to deliver results.

At a Legislative Council welfare panel meeting, some lawmakers expressed dissatisfaction that about one million residents are still, according to the latest government data, living under the poverty line.

Roy Kwong of the Democratic Party said government policies are not effective.

The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Law Chi-kwong, rejected this and said it was the government's initiatives that helped rein in the number of people under the poverty line. He said the number would have been 1.3 million but for the government's policies.

But Labour Party lawmaker Fernando Cheung said various financial assistance schemes rolled out by the authorities have failed to improve the situation.

He said both the old age living allowance and the low income family allowance have failed to help poor people.

He told RTHK's Wendy Wong that the government's claim that the poverty problem is common in ageing societies is not true, as can be seen from the experience of other countries, like Norway.