The following is a continuation of the report from the House of Assembly on Friday night.

Newly-appointed Minister Without Portfolio Zane DeSilva told the House of Assembly on Friday that a number of hotel developments remain on the cards despite the gloomy economic picture.

And he insisted that a number of resorts have taken advantage of Government concessions to improve their products.

"We are experiencing a drop in [tourist] dollars but I think at the end of the day with the concessions we've given and the prospects on the books, I think we're going to be well-prepared when the world economy returns to somewhat of a normal place," he said.

He also spoke about the lack of white people in the Progressive Labour Party — and the news, as reported in The Royal Gazette, that former Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith has joined the party.

"The PLP is not a black party it's a party which whites failed to join," said Mr. DeSilva, who is the party's only white MP.

"I am very happy to see former Commissioner Jonathan Smith. What a great article," said Mr. DeSilva, who said he would be talking to some white friends about it.

"Post that article up in your bathroom, think about where we want Bermuda to go and how we are going to get there."

Independent MP Darius Tucker spoke on education, claiming that the school system was doomed to failure without the assistance of parents.

According to Mr. Tucker, parents need to get involved in their child's education and regularly attend parent-teacher association meetings. He suggested that schools also take note of which parents were not actively participating and give them a call. He said people could be highly critical of the Education Minister but that it was difficult to make the system work without supplementary support from parents.

It was announced in the Throne Speech that the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality will undergo a review in January.

Mr. Tucker said: "I'm happy to see we will do something there; it needs to be resolved. We have to start to change mindsets. When we start to change mindsets of a man or woman then we start to see a difference."

Mr. Tucker said there were many pay disparities in the workforce not only between black and white Bermudian males, but between white Bermudian males and their foreign counterparts within the same job. Those issues need to be addressed, he said.

Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons claimed changes happening in the education system were "too slow, too little, and before long will be too late".

Dr. Gibbons said single sex education in public schools should be "considered" as a way to focus more on the needs of young, black males. He also suggested it could help combat the 50 percent dropout rate among young black males.

The Opposition MP suggested the school day should be extended to run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., allowing for more remedial areas, like sport and music, to be taught.

He claimed education was the most critical issue facing Bermudians "because the ramifications are so broad" and affect all sectors of society.

And he questioned why schools such as the Adult Education Centre, which accommodate an increasing number of high school dropouts, have suffered a reduction in Government grants.

Though he was critical of education reform under the current Government, Dr. Gibbons said he did support the implementation of the Cambridge curriculum in public schools.

"There is still a long way to go. We need to understand where Government is going in order to understand whether improvements are as good as we think they are," he said.

Energy Minister Michael Scott told MPs that Government planned to set up an energy advisory commission to work with his Ministry.

He said the commissioners would have the power to make early inquiries about energy plans for the future.

Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin commended Government's idea to have joint marketing between the Bermuda Department of Tourism and individual hotel properties.

But she was critical of the education system and Government's efforts to combat crime.

Of the joint marketing effort, she said it was time for the Island to "put proper resources in telling people who we are, where we are and what we offer".

Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin said she disagreed with Government's statement that young, black males were the only ones to suffer from wage disparities. She claimed such disparities also affected lower class white males.

"It is a little bit dangerous when we continue to discriminate because there are people hurting at every level and every colour," she said.

She also noted that constant changes of ministers within education has impacted the struggling public school system.

She criticised the number of education ministers in the last decade and said each time a new minister passed the buck, another had to start from scratch. "These young people deserve better and some level of continuity," she added.

Health Minister Walter Roban applauded Government's Future Care initiative to provide affordable health care for seniors.

And he lambasted the Opposition for suggesting in the reply to the throne speech that it would end up costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

He said this was not the case, and demanded to see the actuarial study that led them to produce that figure.

He said Government had used the same actuarial services as major insurance companies. And he added that the current cost of the scheme is $39 million.

"As of September, it's performing to actuarial projections. So when we hear 'mismanagement' from certain quarters of the media and Opposition 'nonsense' — that's all I can say on that."

He went on to repeat previous complaints that private insurance companies have ceased to offer affordable cover to seniors since Future Care was launched.

But he said he's going to have discussions with the companies, which he hopes will be "fruitful."

John Barritt, Shadow Minister of Legislative Reform, spoke of the importance of that very topic. He said he was glad the issue of good governance was highlighted in the recent Bermuda First Report. Urging the Government to get on with reforms, he challenged them to put him in charge to make sure it gets done.

Turning to the "vexed" issue of gaming, he noted that a study has already been done on this and now Government is pledging a green paper.

"That would rightly be the work of a bipartisan committee so we can gather information openly and everyone can be part of that process. But we will wait for the green paper," he said.

Turning to the issue of crime, he criticised the fact that previous pledges by Government to establish a witness protection programme, anti-gang legislation and parental responsibility legislation have "dropped off the radar screen" and not been mentioned in the throne speech.

He noted the speech does mention plans to redefine the offence of robbery and increase the penalties. But he said there is already legislation in place to deal with robbers and questioned the point of doing this "when we've got other problems."

He then referred to Government's ongoing complaint that the Governor and not the Government has overall charge of the Police service. Mr. Barritt pointed out that according to the Police Act, the Commissioner of Police is in charge of operational control and command of the service subject to any "general directions" on policy that the Governor makes.

"The Governor himself is not supposed to be rolling up his sleeves and telling the Police what to do, according to this legislation," he said. "Is that the problem? Does that need to be debated? Let's get to the issues."

Former Education Minister Randy Horton, who's now a Government backbencher, spoke of the importance of early childhood education for all.

He said if this was in place, it could close the gaps between young black males and their white counterparts and female counterparts highlighted in the recent Mincy Report.

"Every child in this country should be afforded it. If not, then we will have the gaps that we have," he stated.

However, his speech was interrupted from noise from the Government bench in front of him as current Education Minister El James pretended to snore loudly.

"I put the Education Minister to sleep!" noted Mr. Horton, as Environment Minister Glenn Blakeney prodded a chuckling Mr. James back to attention.

Getting back to his point, Mr. Horton reiterated: "We're setting up a lot of our young males not to be successful and not to reach the pinnacle of opportunity in this country."

He also applauded plans for the extension of the school day, which he said would encourage a broader range of skills and interests in young people via extra curricular activities.

Shadow Minister of the Environment Cole Simons told the House: "There are some parents that need to be flogged."

He cited as an example a tale from a teacher friend of his who had been trying to contact one child's parents — without success — for months over his educational and social problems.

According to the tale, when the teacher confiscated the child's phone one day, his mother was immediately ringing the school to complain.

"What priorities do our parents have?" exclaimed Mr. Simons. "That is nonsense of the utmost order and we wonder why some of our kids have problems!"

Concluding the debate on the reply to the throne speech, Premier Dr. Ewart Brown took issue with claims by the Opposition that he is divisive.

"Let me explain something: I did not come into this role to protect the status quo and surely I did not come into this job to protect the interests of the opposition," he said. "I came into this role to protect the long-term interests of my country.

"Leaders come in different packages and do different things. I've seen my role as someone that ploughs the ground... I said I wanted to plant some seeds, maybe sprinkle some water and step aside. That was my plan from day one and I am following that plan."

He said he'd worked to get the issue of race relations discussed openly through initiatives such as the Big Conversation, and said it was the role of Government to "question unearned privilege and remove it if possible."