Senate President Carol Anne Bassett has urged Bermudians to cancel their "shopping trips to New Jersey" and start preparing to be hit by the global financial crisis.

She said during an economic debate in the Upper House yesterday that the community really needed to change its mindset and start to rein in on spending.

"For those who it has already affected, this is a reality to them. For a lot of us, it hasn't hit us yet so a lot of us are going about our business as usual."

The independent senator said it was vital for people to stop "living pay check to pay check" and start to consider how they would pay their mortgage and other bills if made redundant.

She told her colleagues: "We, as leaders of the community, really need to start encouraging people to step back and think about: 'What am I going to do now the environment has changed? What can I do before it does affect me?'"

Labour, Home Affairs and Housing Minister David Burch agreed that Bermuda was not immune from the "chaos" going on around the world.

He said the private sector had notified the Department of Labour and Training in his Ministry of 115 redundancies but he said the figure may not be accurate as some job cuts hadn't been made yet and some companies had not provided numbers.

Sen. Burch said Bermudians had not been flocking to the department in the numbers he expected during the economic downturn to find out the options available to them.

But he said he understood the "Bermudian psyche" and knew some of those who had been laid off would take time off or travel abroad.

The Minister also spoke on the National Training Board, which trains young Bermudians in technical trades. He said its new executive officer had been told that Bermuda College now had to be the first port of call for training as opposed to overseas schools.

And he revealed that he had ordered a review of agreements the NTB has with such institutions because there seemed to him to be a "scatter shooting" approach.

Opposition Senator Jeanne Atherden said she was concerned about the continued growth of the Civil Service, arguing that the more Bermudians in the public sector, the less available to work in the private sector, leading to an increased reliance on guest workers.

Sen. Atherden suggested that ministerial interference was also becoming a problem, lessening the ability of civil servants to give impartial advice.

She said Government needed to be aware of awarding state contracts to companies where there was a conflict of interest and called for a Contractor General position to be created to manage such matters.

Junior Government Minister Thaao Dill said he hoped the global recession would force people in the west to press the "philosophical reset button" and move towards a less greedy, grasping culture.

He said justice for the people was at the heart of the Budget for 2009/10, citing examples such as the introduction of the FutureCare health insurance plan for seniors and spending on the psycho-educational programme for troubled children.

Shadow Transport Minister Michael Fahy called on Government to show some commitment to improving road safety.

And he said he remained "flabbergasted" at Government's decision to axe $2 million from the Police's budget, questioning how that could help cut crime.

Moving to education, he said having seven different ministers in ten years meant it was impossible to have a consistent policy.