Govt Push To Fast Track Paternity Bill Backfires

A move by the government to get Legco to fast track a paternity leave bill backfired on Wednesday, as angry lawmakers rejected a call to avoid one of their usual procedures.

Labour Secretary Law Chi-kwong urged lawmakers to avoid setting up a bills committee to scrutinise the proposal to minimise any delays. He said that way, the bill can be passed before the summer recess next month.

"As the objective of the bill is simple and direct, I sincerely urge members to consider not having to set up a bills committee for this bill on paternity leave, so that it can be passed as soon as possible," Law said.

He said the increase in the number of leave days from three to five, as proposed in the bill, would be applicable by the end of this year only if lawmakers pass it now.

But this angered some opposition lawmakers who said the government should not treat Legco as a rubber stamp.

"We are not a consultative body, we are not a rubber stamp … There is room for discussion as to whether five days are sufficient," said Labour Party lawmaker Fernando Cheung.

He also said he wants to increase the paternity leave to seven days, and not five as proposed in the bill.

But the labour secretary said five days is all the government could get as an agreement between different sides on the Labour Advisory Board.

On Monday, the acting Chief Executive Matthew Cheung had urged legislators not to file amendments to the legislation, saying it will just slow the bill down.

This was rejected immediately by Bill Tang of the pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions, who said his group would move an amendment, requiring the government to review the policy within a year.