Govt To Revamp Public Consultation Process

The Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, said on Tuesday that her administration will revamp ways in which officials gauge public opinion and revisit controversial policy initiatives to see if they received broad-based support.

Speaking to reporters before attending the Executive Council meeting, Lam said one of her key priorities would be to drastically reform the various consultative committees, in particular the Youth Development Commission (YDC), in order to better incorporate voices from different sectors of community.

Rather than having all committee members appointed by the government, she said authorities will explore other ways to bring in people from different backgrounds.

“I hope that the YDC will undergo a major changeover to a more open dialogue and platform to listen to views from young people of various backgrounds”, she said.

The embattled Chief Executive added that authorities will set up more platforms to gauge public sentiments.

“Sometimes we may not need a formal committee, we should build more open platforms to facilitate dialogues in a very frank manner, and to make sure that whoever joins the committees or these dialogues come from different backgrounds, so they are not homogeneous from one group.”

Lam also said she has asked her principal officials to revisit their policy initiatives and consider whether there’s a need to redo or enhance the consultation process to make sure the proposals receive broad-based support.

Members of the Executive Council, meanwhile, will meet different sectors of society regularly in order to accurately gauge public opinion on the government’s plans.

In doing so, she said she hopes her administration can regain the trust and confidence of the people.