Now that members of the House of Assembly have been sworn in, what can we expect for their first debate?
While we won’t know for certain until the order paper for that session is made public we can speculate based on recent statements made by Premier Dr the Honourable Natalio Wheatley that the Retiring Allowances Act, commonly termed “The Greedy Bill”, will be a part of that first debate.
Earlier this week, during a press engagement, Wheatley said that it was his “goal” to have the necessary amendments made to that bill during the first debate of the Fifth House of Assembly.
The bill was heavily criticised during the election season, and came to be used as a point of focus in various campaigns as the candidates who aided in passing it through the House of Assembly and those due to benefit from it came under fire.
Wheatley had promised to address the challenges to the bill swiftly if re-elected, inclusive of forfeiting the benefits he would have been entitled to based on the section of the bill which he challenged.
Now on the heels of victory at the April 24 General Election, Wheatley said that his position on the bill remains the same.
We await the intended amendments being made public and will continue to bring you the information in that regard as it becomes available.