David Norris (Independent)

First, I support this amendment in principle. It is a very good one. Second, I always listen with great interest to what Senator Bradford says because he says it in such a calm, measured and reasonable way but that does not always mean the ideas he enunciates are as calm and reasonable as the tone.

The first point I would make is that I do not believe this country is bankrupt. It would be much better if it were because if it were bankrupt under certain conditions that would mean we would have debt forgiveness, and we do not. We are still struggling with a degree of international poverty. A number of our banks are obviously useless but that would not necessarily qualify the country for a definition of bankruptcy.

The second point is that it is a rather astonishing assertion that if this table of criteria were applied, 95% of the people of this island would be found to be covered by it. We are talking about fairly basic needs such as warmth, food and shelter and however misgoverned this country has been over the past 90 years, not just ten, I do not believe there has been a period in my life time where 95% of people would be excluded from the tax net because they did not meet these criteria. That is political hyperbole.