Fellow Bermudians and friends of Bermuda, I would like to talk to you today about our beloved home, Bermuda - the present, its recent past and our future together.

We live in a time of great hope, mingled with moments of great despair. We live in an age of great expectations and of great anxiety.

As fellow travelers on the road to tomorrow, we must recognize that our Island community faces choices and decisions today that may well be irreversible.

We must take steps now to ensure that those who follow in our footsteps can march on, confident in the knowledge that the road we have paved for them will withstand the test of time.

There is much to be proud of, much to celebrate and much to be hopeful for.

But for a moment let us reflect on that which threatens us - the cancers which, if left unchecked, could spell the end of our future aspirations.

Let us pause for a moment to reflect on, yes, our failures.

Just three weeks ago, our worst fears were confirmed - two of Bermuda's sons were taken away in a manner that was both brutal and shocking.

Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the Cooper twins.

We can only begin to fathom the depths of your anguish and pain.

Yet we have all been dealt another cruel reminder that we must be unwavering in protecting the values that have made us such a proud and decent people. We must be resolute and untiring in protecting the very soul of Bermuda.

Too many have been sacrificed in recent years. There can be no rational purpose for this senseless bloodshed! And if there is to be an overriding positive outcome - it must be to shock us from the perch of complacency and smugness that we have inhabited for far too long.

It must be to jolt all of us - the Government, civil society and the private sector - to take action, and to combine our talents and resources to develop innovative and effective solutions that protect the freedom and safety of all who reside in and visit our Island home.

There is no greater tragedy to a family or a nation than the premature and permanent loss of its young.

While other countries may envy our relative stability and social order, many of us can recall a time - not too long ago - when violent incidents were a rarity in our society.

Many of us can recall a time when we could leave the doors to our homes and cars open, secure in the knowledge that all our brothers and sisters, our neighbours and fellow citizens conducted themselves as brothers and sisters, neighbours and fellow citizens.

Today, we have been shaken to our core.

We, in Bermuda, know all too well that too many have been lost. The homeless, the desperate, the disillusioned and the drug addicted.

Those who have concluded that their vision of the Bermuda Dream must involve dealing in death and destruction.

I speak of the victims and the perpetrators of horrific crimes.

Let us remember this evening, those, who have in recent years, lost their lives at the hands of others.

I speak of, and for, Rochelle West, Umoja Spencer and Maureen Parker - all of whom were killed in 1995.

I speak of, and for, David Riley, Rebecca Middleton, Jaimes Caines and Brownlow Place - killed in 1996. And Saed Young and Beatrice Simons who met their untimely deaths a year later.

And I speak of, and for, Craig McGavern and Samira Daniels, Dean Young and Glen Wolffe.

I speak of, and for, Jermaine Pitcher, A'Mya Tamerry, George Kelly, Tekle Mallory, Stanley Lee, Harry Palmer, Chena Trott, Frederick Goring and Shaundae Jones… Cassidy Salahuddin, Cornel Jones, and Nicholas Dill.

And I speak of, and for, Jahmil and Jamahl Cooper brutally killed this year at 20 years old.

And I speak of, and for, a number of families that question how and why the pursuit of justice could go so horribly wrong; compounding their families' tragedy.

I call upon each and every resident to resolve that we have seen the last of these sad and debilitating episodes.

It is impossible to disagree with recent calls, by those in Government, the community and, yes - the Opposition, to take our community back! Let us resolve - each and every one of us - to reject this slide into social anarchy, because that is not the Bermuda we want. It is not the Bermuda we have been, it is unacceptable that it is the Bermuda that we are, and for the future, it is not the Bermuda we wish to be.

I, and the members of your Government, for our part, will continue to strengthen our efforts to address the social ills that far too often have ended in such tragedies.

Fellow Bermudians and friends of Bermuda, this week you should receive in your households a booklet which outlines for you the seven Pillars of the Government's Social Agenda, and the work that is being done in each Ministry to make the Agenda a reality. The Social Agenda is my portfolio of Governance, and its slate of initiatives when taken together, will deliver a more just and cohesive society.

One such example will be our institution of a set of rules which will address the problem of reluctant witnesses in serious criminal proceedings.

We embarked on the Social Agenda with a remarkable series of brainstorming sessions.

The result is a range of actions which fall into the categories that we have identified as the seven pillars: Youth Development; Strong Community Spirit; A Well Educated and Skilled Workforce; Adequate Housing for All; Economic Empowerment and Opportunity; Improved Quality of Life; and lastly, but certainly not the least of these - a Civil and Law Abiding Country.

For example, The National Training Board, the Island's premier workforce development organisation, is boosting its already considerable offerings with a slate of programmes aimed at the young, mature students and even married couples seeking to improve their lot with additional training. This Social Agenda initiative addresses a Strong Community Spirit; Youth Development; and a Well Educated and Skilled Workforce.

And, on the critical issue of affordable housing, our initiatives include new legislation aimed at ending setbacks and delays faced by our Quangos in funding their developments, as well as an information management system that will allow us to more efficiently track critical needs, supply and demand. Likewise this Social Agenda initiative addresses a Strong Community Spirit; Adequate Housing for All; and Improved Quality of Life.

Earlier this year, we checked the pulse of our Island community to be sure that we had been accurate in our interpretation of what had to be done. The result for the most part was a resounding yes. However, where our order of priorities may have differed, we are willing and able to make the shift. We have listened and we hear you. We are doing what you would have us do. We are doing what we must do.

Fellow Bermudians and friends of Bermuda, as Premier of this country, I take full personal responsibility for ensuring that the goals of the Government's Social Agenda are met. This is the portfolio I have set for myself and this is the portfolio on which I shall deliver.

The Government must and will lead. Success, however, will be up to all of us. I urge every resident of this Island to make it your business to know and understand what social services the Government and the Island's nongovernmental organizations provide.

We are preparing a campaign to ensure that you are knowledgeable of the current Government services available to you. We will highlight the Ministry or Quango that can provide that service and the method or methods by which it can be delivered. It is imperative that each citizen of this country is empowered with a working knowledge of Government and Government Services.

We will not rest on a supposition that you already know, we will stand on the knowledge that you do know.

But while that is a matter for us, we ask you to look around in your families, your neighbourhoods, social clubs and religious congregations and do your part in providing for those in need or in helping to rescue those in trouble.

Everyone can be a leader in securing our collective future. We know this from 26 year old Jermaine Richardson whose vision and community spirit has led to the creation of GED programmes in the Hamilton and Southampton branches of the Seventh Day Adventist Church; resulting in dozens of people receiving a second chance at securing a sound educational foundation.

We know this from Milton Richardson who founded De Boys Day Out Club which provides constructive activities which help our young boys to develop into solid Bermudian men.

And we know this from the dozens of Big Brothers and Big Sisters who give hundreds of hours every year to provide mentorship, guidance and companionship to some of our potentially vulnerable young people.

These individuals, and many others, are showing that we can all be leaders - that we can all be contributors to the future.

You will be in possession of the Social Agenda booklet. I urge you to track our commitments against delivery. The booklet contains contact details, by email and telephone, of our Ministers or Ministries. Yes, we do want to be held accountable by the people we serve - and are making every effort to open up vehicles by which you, the people, can communicate directly with us, your Government.

To those who question our resolve, we remind you that the announcement of the country's first Ombudsman is imminent.

But if there are those among you who would insist on dismissing the Social Agenda as empty political rhetoric from a Government desperate to cling to power, then although you dismiss your responsibility in that effort, there is still work for you to do.

The Social Agenda is the primary social contract between this Government and its people. It is what you have told us that you wish us to do in order to secure our collective well being.

However, as we toil and grapple with the things that sustain the lifeblood of our country, we cannot take our eye off the future.

And to that end, to all detractors of the Social Agenda, I challenge you to at least consider your part, your responsibility, in crafting a strategy for the long term sustainability of Bermuda.

You will recall that, upon my selection as Premier, I committed to extending the hand of partnership to the Opposition. Efforts to deliver on that commitment have not always met with success. But I meant it then and I mean it now.

The Sustainable Development Project, while initiated by my administration, is intended to be a truly bipartisan effort.

It is a far-reaching exercise involving public consultation, research, action plans and, yes, more public consultation.

It is a project which, with your participation, should result in a strategy that is intended to outlive the membership of both political parties and many of the established institutions we take for granted today.

It is a project which asks you, Bermuda, what are you willing to give up or keep in check, in order to ensure a quality of life for your children, grandchildren and their children.

It seeks to forge a consensus on the core values by which our social, economic and environmental policies must be guided.

The Government will meet your needs as identified in the Social Agenda. As citizens of this country we ask you to fully participate in a project that develops our country in a manner that sustains it for the foreseeable future.

Fellow Bermudians and friends of Bermuda, I turn now to the question of governance.

There have been a number of vocal critics of this Government. An Opposition engaged in political mischief, and others bent on simple mischief. However, I am convinced that there are those who genuinely feel concern for the future of this country.

The political mischief makers and the others, I shall leave to the judgment of the people. But to those with justified criticisms and genuinely felt concerns, I say again: We have listened, we are listening, and we hear you.

Most troubling of the criticisms are questions and concerns about the credibility and integrity of this Administration.

Some of these critics intend to make it difficult for us to govern effectively. However, let me assure them, and you, that they will not succeed.

I have directed my Ministers to always ensure that in their policy making and implementation measures that substance is favoured over platitudes, that transparency is favoured over obscurity, that action is favoured over lip service.

And while we could arguably be justly accused of over-consulting with the public, I have directed my Ministers to ensure that consultation continues to be one of the hallmarks of our administration.

I have also directed my Ministers to ensure that in their conduct, at home and abroad, that they recommit themselves to the path of integrity, respect for others and good governance.

And to this Island's media establishments, both electronic and print, I invite you to redouble your efforts at exposing wrongdoing by the servants of the people on both sides of the political aisle - whether elected or appointed.

And whilst your efforts should be zealous, it must be without question, that you are committed to the highest standards of journalism in your respective newsrooms! You must remember that as you investigate public officials, your conclusions are only useful if they are truthful.

Be mindful of the fact that you, too, run the risk of offending the public conscience if you pursue your mission with anything less than the utmost integrity. I therefore urge our media professionals to play your role in the growth of our democracy and to play it well and honestly.

We - the media and the Government - share an equal responsibility in our service to the people of Bermuda.

Again, while our portfolio is the Social Agenda, we would be irresponsible if we were not to consider this country's future. For this reason we initiated the Sustainable Development Project, and for this reason we established the framework for Island-wide dialogue on the constitutional future of the country.

There are strong forces in this country against any change to the constitutional status quo. Forces of fear, mistrust, conservatism, and the apparently irresistible urge to conjure up dark clouds of confusion for political gain, have all converged to sponsor a campaign intended to cast doubt, in the minds of some, on the process of national dialogue upon which we have embarked.

Listening to the many people who turned up at recent public meetings with the Bermuda Independence Commission, I have come to a renewed faith in the process of national dialogue. Hundreds have peacefully engaged each other with their opposing views, hundreds have listened to each other and hundreds have had new insight into each other's experiences.

I am extremely proud of the fact that we have succeeded in opening up another era of extraordinarily frank national dialogue.

Already, my motivation, in many ways, has been fulfilled by the success, thus far, of the process of discussing what is, for many, a very sensitive and emotive topic.

I believe in the wisdom of the Bermudian people and I am confident that we can agree on a formula going forward that will address our different anxieties. I ask simply that the doubters and our detractors keep an open mind on the issue of self determination.

I wish to make it abundantly clear that this Government has no intention to force this country into making a constitutional change.

After all, this is the Government that has brought significant improvements in the quality of our democracy.

This is the Government that has made provision for the office of the Ombudsman, ushered in a fairer voting system and is even now working on measures to extend electoral rights to absentee voters.

This is not the Government that tramples on the democratic rights of its people.

Let me emphasise once again for the record: My portfolio is the Social Agenda. It is for the people of Bermuda to chart the way forward on the sustainability of our Island home, and its constitutional future.

That is why I commissioned the Bermuda Independence Commission, a truly unique Bermuda solution to a Bermudian issue.

And that too, is the reason why I appointed the Sustainable Development RoundTable Group.

Two autonomous, apolitical bodies that are providing valuable guidance in these areas for the benefit of all the people.

Taken together, both projects tackle the possible future our community faces, and also present an unprecedented and historic opportunity for each and every Bermudian to apply our legendary ingenuity in fashioning our future.

The current phase of the Social Agenda addresses our present and the immediate future. All three projects amount to an Island-wide effort toward Community Renewal, or to put it more boldly, they are the roadmap of the 'New Bermuda' that we know in our hearts is possible.

A roadmap which resolves the contradictions inherent in our development, and which I envision will lead to peace and prosperity, and a social and political order based not on historical antagonisms, but on consensual decision making in a society where all needs are being met and all have equal opportunity to spread their wings and soar.

This is the society we must create. Working together we can. For Bermuda works best when we all work together.

As I close, I wish to share with you a quotation from the book, "A Higher Standard of Leadership - Lessons from the Life of Ghandi".

"When we lose our ideals, we lack depth as individuals, we stop thinking and striving to improve, and most importantly we lose our kinship with others.

It is this loss of kinship that fuels the spiritual and physical violence around us.

To paraphrase what was said 2000 years ago: What will a country gain through economic progress if it loses its soul?"

This Government continues to be committed to the ideal of good governance and asks that you too, recommit yourselves to the ideals of the Bermudian character, so that together, we can make our country whole.

Thank you for listening. May God bless each and every one of you and may God bless our country.

Goodnight.