Premier Ewart Brown unveiled his Sustainable Development Roundtable (SDR) yesterday, but also revealed that he won’t ask the group to weigh in on the controversial Southlands Special Development Order (SDO).

The Premier suggested it was too late for the SDR to formulate a recommendation without interrupting the Environment Ministry process, already underway.

He said: “This development is in the hands of the Minister of the Environment — and that’s where it is right now. And we will have to wait and see what the Minister’s decision is. I think to do anything else would be to preclude the necessity for the Minister to speak.”

The new panel has met once so far and the Southlands issue did not come up, according to the recently appointed chairman Arthur Hodgson.

Mr. Hodgson further explained that he has not personally made a judgment about whether the project is right for Bermuda.

He said: “I’m very sorry to say that I have not arrived at a decision where I can give you a definitive opinion. And I certainly haven’t reached the point where the Roundtable has discussed it. And we certainly haven’t reached the point where I’ve been able to give the Premier any advice.”

Both men reminded the press that the work of the SDR is much wider in scope than just Southlands, nonetheless the proposed hotel resort dominated a news conference yesterday where the Premier’s new appointees were formally introduced to the public.

Dr. Brown’s panel is 13 members, five fewer than the panel of his predecessor Alex Scott.

The Premier said: “In this administration we try to move from big and bulky to lean and efficient.”

Seven of the members are new and six are from the previous Roundtable. Among those not invited back is environmentalist Stuart Hayward, who, since leaving the Government advisory committee, has become an outspoken opponent of the Southlands bid for an SDO.

When asked how he’ll handle competing opinions between his administration and the SDR, the Premier said: “We can agree to disagree.

“One thing we made sure with this group is that we went looking for adults. And we think we found them, we know we found them. And when there’s disagreement there will be disagreement, but we will handle our disagreements in the view of their relationship with Government as advisors. We think that our advisors should speak to us first.”

It was a clear reference by the Premier that disagreement should be hammered out between the two bodies privately, not publicly.

However he also said: “If we think a disagreement is of significance, we will share it. There are insignificant disagreements and there are significant ones. This is not going to be a secret society, but we also challenge the media to go deeper than the surface.”

Mr. Hodgson similarly placed a burden on the media. He said: “We’re all familiar with the fact that there’s nothing like getting an audience if you have a fight.

“However on the question of sustainable development, what I’m hoping is that the press, in addition to pursuing their interests, will take on board the long- term interests of the country.

“I think that without the co-operation of the press, and all aspects of the press in this community, the roundtable will be a flop, it will be of no value.”

The SDR is a fairly new addition to the Government process, first introduced in April 2005. Its primary role is to advise the Cabinet on a sustainable future for the country in areas of economics, the environment and culture.