Pan-dems Accused Of Ignoring Women's Interests

Pro-establishment lawmakers have slammed their pan-democrat counterparts for delaying a Legco session, and accused them of disregarding the interests of women.

The council meeting was adjourned for about 30 minutes due to a lack of quorum in the morning session with members scheduled to debate a bill on the extension of maternity leave from 10 to 14 weeks.

The pro-government camp said the delay due to the adjournment leaves less time for the bill to be taken up and passed.

Lawmakers from the camp met the media, with some holding dolls to highlight the maternity leave issue.

They said the council was slated to debate a bill to extend maternity leave on Wednesday, but they have now lost some debate time. This could jeopardise the bill, with this Legco term ending in a few weeks, they said.

DAB lawmaker Elizabeth Quat said the extension of maternity leave has been discussed for years and accused pan-democrats of being the enemy of all women.

Kwok Wai-keung of the Federation of Trade Unions said not even one pan-democratic lawmaker was in the chamber when the meeting was adjourned.

But Eunice Yung of New People’s Party said the pan-dems filibustered the meeting merely to avoid a motion moved by her to censure Claudia Mo of Council Front.