Home Affairs Minister Sen. David Burch told the Senate yesterday he wanted to dispel the "completely false" notion that Government was motivated by race.

At the start of the debate on the Throne Speech in the Upper House, Sen. Burch said: "I'd like to, right at the outset, try to dispel one of the myths that continues to exist in this country, continues to be promoted by certain segments of this country, that in my humble opinion is completely false and that's the suggestion that everything this Government does is done on a racial basis.

"Until somebody reminds me that that's what we are supposed to be doing, it's not something that I think of."

He told his fellow Senators that it was a "cop out" to accuse Government of racism during the general election and the way it carries out its affairs.

"There is no evidence to support it," he said, adding that it was a cheap way for Government's opponents to admit that they had lost.

Labour, Home Affairs and Housing Minister Sen. Burch, who also has responsibility for Immigration, said he had no idea of the race of those people to whom he grants Bermudian status.

Sen. Burch, whose brief also includes public safety, said the Government, the Governor and the Police "stand united" in the quest to tackle crime.

He said regular meetings with him, Governor Sir Richard Gozney, Police Commissioner George Jackson and Attorney General Kim Wilson were enabling them to come up with set targets and deadlines to be met. "This is not an exercise in PR; this is not an exercise to present a facade — this is for real," he said.

Independent Senator Walwyn Hughes later said he was pleased to hear of this united front as it had not always been the case in the past.

Sen. Burch said a fresh recruitment drive for Police was about to get under way in three Caribbean countries and said there were moves to use Regiment soldiers to do some of the work being carried out by Police officers.

He admitted a recent advertising drive to get Bermudians interested in serving in Bermuda Police Service had been "dreadful" and said a fresh approach would be considered.

He revealed that the Fire Service was struggling to recruit and was "hard pressed to get a dozen over the first hurdle" out of a recent batch of 107 applicants.

The Government's leader in the Senate talked about how the Throne Speech pledge to give 500 families down payments on new homes would give Bermudians the chance to own a piece of the rock and how a "rent geared to income" scheme with mandatory savings would help others.

Sen. Burch gave members a detailed update on current housing projects, explaining that all the female residents of the rooming facility known as 632 at Southside, St. David's, would be moved to the Gulfstream building, which has been completed.

He said there had been problems at 632 but a programme entitled Break the Cycle for residents had helped to lessen them. "We were having issues of people cohabiting together and we were not prepared to accept some of the behaviour," he said, adding that the programme had seen a return to "traditional Bermudian values".

He said the Loughlands project had encountered some external challenges with a "critical service provider" but added that he expected these to soon be resolved.

He said the project was due to be completed before the deadline of the end of April and 21 families were ready to move in.

Sen. Burch said work on the 106 Harbourview Village units was well under way. He told the Senate that there had been a number of objections to the plan to build units at St. Augustine Hill which had led to "interventions" in the neighbourhood, including tidying up the land on each side of Pembroke Rest Home.