Policy Address︱34 consultation sessions "over-completed" - the arrangement is not as good as in previous years

There is still one week left before Chief Executive Li Jiachao announces his first "Policy Address".

Li Jiachao expressed his gratitude on the social network for the opinions of the public, and has already considered them one by one.

According to figures provided by the government, a total of 34 consultation sessions were held during the consultation period this year, which is more than the government originally planned.

However, in terms of form, this year the Government has not collected opinions from the pro-democracy camps, nor has it seen any activities that allow all citizens to have the opportunity to express their opinions directly to the Chief Executive through random sampling as in the past, which may affect the effectiveness of the consultation.

Some public relations experts believe that this does not necessarily affect the ability to absorb public opinions, but it is not conducive to narrowing the distance with the public.

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The number of 30 sessions originally scheduled to be held "exceeded completion"

The consultation period for this year's Policy Address began on July 25. At that time, a government press release stated: "The Government will hold about 30 consultation sessions to listen to the views and suggestions of Legislative Council members, representatives of various sectors and the public on the Policy Address. . Lee Ka-chao and the governance team will also visit the community to visit members of the public and representatives of different sectors to absorb opinions through various channels.”

The latest reply to the "Hong Kong 01" enquiry by the Policy Address Unit stated that for the 2022 Policy Address, the Government has held a total of 34 consultation meetings, of which 25 were chaired by the Chief Executive, including two district consultation meetings.

"Those who attended the consultation came from different economic and professional sectors such as finance, innovation and technology, arts and creativity, legal and dispute resolution services, shipping and logistics, aviation, real estate construction, trade, tourism, SMEs, chambers of commerce, etc., as well as social sectors , such as education, housing, medical care, social welfare, labor, environmental protection, rural affairs, regional organizations, etc., and also cover different groups, such as youth groups, civil servant groups, members of the Legislative Council, etc.”

In addition, the two regional consultation meetings invited regional representatives from all 18 districts in Hong Kong, "they come from different backgrounds, including grassroots, middle class, retirees, youth, students and ethnic minorities, etc., and they have a wide range of representation. The two regional consultations The sessions were produced by RTHK and broadcast live on the Internet and RTHK TV. Each session was attended by the Chief Executive and 12 bureau-level officials. The government has a better grasp of regional concerns and expectations for the Policy Address.” In addition, as of October 10, the government had received 6,900 proposals.

The participants of the regional consultation meeting are diverse, but the political background is similar

Since the government consultation meeting may not be open to the public, it may only meet with representatives of a specific sector, and official figures must be used as the basis.

Looking at the entire consultation period, there are two more open activities, namely, two regional consultation sessions held in Tsuen Wan and Ap Lei Chau on August 20 and 27.

In addition, Li Jiachao personally landed in the district on July 30 and went to Sham Shui Po to meet with the neighbors to listen to their opinions, but the official did not say whether this was included in the "consultation meeting", and we will not say it for the time being.

Among them, at a consultation meeting in Tsuen Wan, most of the on-site participants were representatives of regional organizations. Most of the speeches were pro-establishment. District councillors or district council chairmen with democratic backgrounds reported that they were not invited.

As for the consultation meeting in Ap Lei Chau, according to the host, the more than 100 citizens who attended were also "mostly representatives of regional organizations".

In other words, in the two consultation meetings, the participants were not randomly selected, but there were certain "connectors" of regional organizations.

As we all know, regional organizations have always dominated the establishment. Especially in the past two years, the political environment has changed, and the old civil society has disappeared. It is difficult to find people with political dissent from the government through regional organizations.

In contrast, during the consultation period for last year's "Policy Address", the then Chief Executive Carrie Lam attended public consultation sessions at the Xiqu Centre in the West Kowloon Cultural District on August 22 and September 12 respectively.

More than 100 people participated in each of the two events. Some were selected by random sampling from the Public Governance Research Department of Lingnan University, and the other was nominated and invited by the 18 District Offices of Hong Kong.

That is to say, there will be a part of the attendance quota, which can be open to other members of the public from unorganized backgrounds.

Although there were no "extraordinary" remarks by the participants of the consultation meeting last year in terms of objective results, at least there was an opportunity to find people with different political views in numbers, and the public perception was also significantly different.

Yuan Haiwen: I do not pay attention to the opinions of the democrats

Yuen Hoi-man, a member of the Democratic Party of Sham Shui Po District, said that the government did not collect opinions from the Democratic Party at all during the consultation period, and admitted that "it does not see any attention".

He pointed out that the government has held dozens of consultation meetings, and it is easy to take the initiative. "You can invite the district civil affairs commissioner, or at least ask for an opinion, but there is no such thing at all. It makes people feel that (the government) does not pay any attention to the opinions of the democrats, or What I think is worth listening to is obviously no longer attaching importance to the district councils with democrats.” But he stressed that no matter what the outcome is, as a political party, it will definitely continue to speak for the public.

Law Wing-chung, a public affairs consultant who was the former political assistant of the former Financial Secretary John Tsang, said that the consultation session itself is at best a "ceremony". Open to all members of the public does not mean that they will listen to their opinions. The more open the event is, the closer it is to the citizens: "The sense of ritual is very important, so that the citizens feel that the report is about themselves. Of course, the ideal is that the content of the report itself responds to their demands, but if it doesn't work, at least maintain the When it comes to the ceremony, people feel that they are connected with the government, and the perception will be much better.”

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