servants in Bermuda.

That was the view of Senate vice president Sen. Norma Astwood during a debate on the establishment of a Bermuda Airport Authority yesterday.

Sen. Astwood was surprised the report of the Air Advisory Committee suggested setting up a quango to run the Airport after stating the present management structure was inadequate.

The Senate were being asked to support Government's response to the report of the committee "to consider the establishment of a Bermuda Airport Authority''.

After six hours of debate, the Senate approved the measure by a vote of eight to three. The Government side was joined by the three Independents, including Sen. Astwood, while the three Progressive Labour Party Senators stood against it.

Government transport spokesman the Hon. Pamela Gordon started the debate saying: "The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of an airport authority and to look at the viability of privatising the Airport.

"I would like to thank Charles Kempe, the chairman, and his committee for this report which is honest and hard-hitting but with many positive conclusions.

"It says the present management structure is inadequate and unable to carry out the present functions. As a result the committee recommends the setting up of an autonomous corporation with 100 percent of the shares owned by Government.'' Sen. Gordon said that in the House of Assembly the Opposition claimed Government was passing the buck and giving away its responsibilities. "I submit that 12 Cabinet members and 40 MPs do not have all the answers for 50,000 people,'' she said. "The UBP government embraces the talents and skills of those in the community willing to participate in the running of the country.'' Sen. Gordon added she saw the setting up of an airport authority as a chance for young Bermudians to become trained and find work.

She said: "The Airport as it stands has outlived its usefulness because it is now a commercially viable operation and not a military base, the reason it was originally built.'' But Sen. Ira Philip (PLP) said: "We wish the United Bermuda Party Government would come clean about their objective. It is to privatise the Airport in the short term and long term. But instead we are confronted with this gibberish.

"This committee is a motley group of well-meaning people who have anxiously tried to lend a helping hand. But they have unwittingly documented the ineptitude and unfairness of a Government that has always boasted about its expertise.'' Sen. Philip claimed the committee would help some elements of the Government who were interested in profits.

"It is a damning expose of a Government that has run its course,'' he said.

"We must stop this process. We can see the thin end of the wedge in the piecemeal privatisation of the garbage collection service.'' He believed that if the authority could not run the Airport at a profit it would be returned, at a high cost, to Government and the taxpayer. He said: "The Government is presently financing the Airport to $30 million a year.'' Sen. Astwood said Government had failed to follow the advice of reports in the past which had cost them money.

She said: "One of the things that I find burdensome is to see how damning the report is against our civil servants. We have not even put our civil servants to the test in running the Airport in a business-like fashion although we say they would be unable to do so.

"For example the Transport Control Department and the Immigration Department have been run very successfully and civil servants have had no problem in carrying out the will of the Minister and the policy of Government. "It is really an insult to say that civil servants are unable to do this. Those implications and innuendoes worry me. Civil servants can raise revenue.'' She suggested a restaurant taking in the scenic views from the Airport could help the Government make money and provide a service for passengers.

Government Senate Leader the Hon. Michael Winfield said the debate had demonstrated differences in the philosophies of the Government and the Opposition.

Sen. Winfield said: "Senator Philip inferred that profit is a rude word. He has failed to realise there are changes taking place in today's world. One of the changes is that Government is not trying to do everything and anything.

"If an economy is to thrive the Government should do everything possible to limit the revenue base and tax take. Only 21 percent of our tax take makes up the Gross Domestic Product. One of the lowest in the world.'' He agreed with Sen. Astwood that people in Government had the talents to run the authority but he said: "The Government should not be taking on more but reducing its size. The fundamental question is whether Government should be running the Airport. Anybody who has flown on international airlines may not realise that many airports are owned or run by private companies.

"There is no secret agenda. No secret objective. We are not proposing full privatisation until it comes back to Parliament.'' Sen. Winfield said Sen. Philip's $30 million estimated cost of running the Airport was more like $3 million.

Sen. Joe Johnson (Ind) called the Airport "probably the most important piece of real estate that exists on this Island''. Bermuda could not survive without it, he said.

While supporting an authority to run the Airport, he was concerned that in the process, Government would forget about preparing for the possibility of the withdrawal of the US Navy from the Island.

He said there should be a separate committee charged solely with determining how Bermuda could cope with -- and hopefully benefit from -- having full control of the Airport.

Customs pre-clearance at the Airport was a "gem'', he added, and Government should ensure it was protected at all costs.

Sen. Wendell Hollis (UBP) chided the PLP for "being bent on cursing the disease, but spending no time on its cure''.

Opposition Senators had come up with few suggestions or comments from the report in front of them.

And they had a "fundamental misunderstanding'' of what was being proposed.

Government was not "giving up the shop'', he said. It was setting up the airport as a viable operation for the people of Bermuda.

"It's not easy for black Bermudians to break into big organisations in Bermuda -- Telco and Belco and other big companies' shares do not come on the market that easily,'' he said.

"What we are doing is creating a new big business in which no Bermudian has a head start and every Bermudian has an equal opportunity.'' Sen. Trevor Woolridge (PLP) said his party favoured the creation of a Ports Authority encompassing both the Airport and marine ports.

He feared there would be a duplication of services if Government one day decided to set up a Marine Authority as well.

"A Ports Authority will benefit the country as a whole -- not just the Airport,'' he said. "Government once again can't get it right the first time around,'' he charged, adding that the UBP had "failed miserably'' when it came to national and long-term planning.

Sen. Woolridge noted there was construction going on at the Airport in mid-season.

"If the US Navy gives as much notice (to withdraw from the Island) as the Canadians gave, then we will be up a proverbial creek without a paddle,'' he said.

He was critical of Government's hiring of non-Bermudians to run the Airport -- and that more than $800,000 was allotted in the last Budget for Airport staff salaries.

Sen. Woolridge said he was not being critical of civil servants, but pointing out that the people responsible -- and highly paid -- for managing the Airport had left it in bad shape as the report stated.

He accused the UBP of having a "let's ignore Bermudians policy'' by constantly bringing in so-called experts for management positions.

The deficiencies at the Airport spelled out how the UBP operated -- it was "a shambles'', he said.

Construction was taking place in the arrivals section creating an eyesore to visitors and Immigration and Customs facilities were less than adequate.

Sen. Jerome Dill (UBP) reminded the Opposition of what they were supposed to be debating.

And he said it made no sense for the PLP to say it was in favour of a Ports Authority but not an Airport Authority as that would be "giving away the shop'' and duplicating services.

"Are airplanes going to begin to sail, or ships fly?,'' he asked. Senate Opposition leader Sen. Alex Scott felt an airport authority was an idea whose time had not yet come.

The airport was Bermuda's lifeblood, he said, and Government should not be taking risks with its management.

Wondering why Government was in favour of the airport being run by a limited liability quango, Sen. Scott said it was an "intriguing proposal''.

He suggested it was possible the UBP would sell off its 100 percent share stake to businessmen to keep the PLP from getting control of it in the event the party won the next election.

Sen. Scott said the PLP was concerned a private manager of the Airport would not be as sensitive to employees. Many East End residents depended on the Airport for employment, he noted. "Government being aware an election is around the corner should not tinker with anything that may cause jobs to be lost,'' he said.

He added the PLP was no longer in favour of taxing the Americans for use of the Base, as it had once suggested.

The Hon. Maxwell Burgess (UBP) said he did not take the view that it was the committee's or Government's intention to imply civil servants were not doing a good job.

"The bureaucracy associated with Government is the shackle we want to shake,'' he said.

He said the Opposition was doing the Island a disservice if its scare tactics steered people away from closely examining its ability to offer good value for money, particularly when it could affect employment.

He said Government was prepared to go wherever necessary to get the appropriate expertise and to dovetail it with the Island's needs.

"We're not going to limit our horizons because the truth is the world is our competitor,'' he said.

Sen. Burgess refuted Opposition assertions that Government had shown itself to be incompetent on the Airport reconstruction.

The rising cost of the departure area job -- from an estimated $9 million to more than $25 million -- was the result of increasing demands and decisions taken after the project began.

Government's commitment to the job grew when it became clear security measures were inadequate by international standards and that more improvements had to be made if Bermuda was to keep its US pre-Customs clearance status.

Senate President the Hon. Albert Jackson said he supported Government decision to take no action without an understanding of the full implications of privatisation.

"I find it difficult to argue against this,'' he said.

Sen. Gordon said Sen. Philip's argument that Government wanted to privatise the Airport so it could allow supporters to skim profits was "totally out of order''.

"I only hope that as time goes on he will see his fears were unwarranted.''