Shadow Finance Minister Patricia Gordon Pamplin is vowing to address the needs of seniors and confront the Government for failing to develop solutions for the Island?s housing crisis.

Just days before her first Reply to the Budget Statement, interviewed Mrs. Gordon Pamplin at the Opposition leader?s office on Front Street to discuss her new role.

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin conceded that it will be a tough job to replace former UBP Leader and Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons.

?Its going to be an extremely formidable task. Grant had not just the benefit of being the Shadow Finance Minister, he had the benefit of being the Finance Minister,? Mrs. Gordon Pamplin said.

?To give me the responsibility for finance is a far cry from yesteryear when you saw the same people walking up the steps on Budget day with their black briefcases.

?Paula Cox being a female Finance Minister is very positive for women in politics. To have a female as a counterpart for the UBP speaks volumes for the contributions of women in the community.?

She said it is an honour to undertake her new role but feels her reputation speaks for itself because in the political arena Mrs. Gordon Pamplin has made a stamp in any portfolio she has been appointed to.

?I love politics but I think this is a bigger area to be concerned with and equally as important as anything I ever have done.?

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin also said she will continue to be a forceful voice in the House of Assembly.

?It?s one thing to constructively criticise programmes that the Government is spending money on but something entirely different to assist the public in knowing their money is not being wasted.

?The scrutiny and the vigilance required by me is going to be far more intense as every project will have to be looked at.?

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin was keen to stress that she does not anticipate any dramatic shift in the UBP?s approach in managing the financial and economic affairs of the country.

?The route down which Grant travelled was one of sobriety for the country and hopefully it?s a route I will continue to stay on. I don?t think necessarily changing personnel suggests we have to change direction totally.

?I will not be making any significant policy changes, it?s just that my style and delivery are perhaps a little bit different but the principles remain the same.?

The Shadow Minister said the PLP inherited a sound and solid economy from the UBP and have continued many policies from the time the UBP was in power. She said the PLP?s stewardship of the nation?s finances has not been as austere as she would have like to see.

She admitted that the economy is in reasonable shape and that Government has been effective in maintaining the level of regulation for international business, with new start-up companies and funds continuing to flow to Bermuda.

But Mrs. Gordon Pamplin said these developments should have incorporated a plan for sustainable development.

?There has been a lot of wastage and slippage. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Paula Cox and her abilities. I think she is constrained by what her colleagues have done in not being as careful with the public purse as they needed to be.

?When I think about the Budgets over the last couple of years, the latest of which helped to infuse additional funds into the economy that didn?t need to be taken from the taxpayer. I think she would be given a barely passing grade. She is capable of doing better.?

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin said before last week?s Budget the Finance Minister had allocated virtually no funds towards improving housing.

?The Minister said housing will be one of the major priorities she is going to address.

?We have a housing crisis and I expect to see a significant infusion of cash into capital projects that will assist in alleviating the housing crisis.

?Government has a certain supply of land and I think we have to make that available on a measured basis and we have to assist on projects the Government had touted in Southside with the Bermuda Land Development Company and with the Bermuda Homes for Bermuda project.?

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin said these projects have merit but they have to be well managed and this approach will distinguish the UBP from the Government in effective management of projects.

?We need to have a land registry so we know what is available and where the ownership is. We need to look at unoccupied premises to make sure they can be brought into the housing stock in a meaningful way.?

An effort to revive the derelict building programme is one Mrs. Gordon Pamplin supports so the Island does not deplete all the available land space and provide incentives for people who want to build up on their existing properties.

?Clearly we have a dependency on international business but what we have to do is to put a strong focus on the revitalisation of tourism.

?The Club Med resort is one little aspect but we need to have a broad based policy that helps every single hotel revive its plant so we have a first class product to offer.?

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin said the Island has diminished capacity in the hotel industry. ?If you look at our neighbours to the south the number of hotels being built in the Caribbean to sustain their tourism product have been phenomenal. We have had no new hotels built.

?Since 1998 we have lost 1,500 Bermudian jobs, that?s a significant number and the predominant number of that are people who work in the hotel environment, we have got to get people back to work.?

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin is adamant that tourism should be revived to an acceptable level to be a significant contributor to the economy.

She conceded that the PLP has been surprisingly more business friendly compared to their rhetoric during their time in Opposition.

When the PLP assumed the helm of Government, Mrs. Gordon Pamplin said there was a recognition that the manner in which UBP dealt with international business was important and critical to the sustaining of the Island?s economy.

?I don?t see that we will do things particularly differently in being friendly to international business but we will not use international business as the cash cow. That seems to be the ammo of the PLP which is almost irresponsible.?

While Mrs. Gordon Pamplin accepts the reinsurance sector is the major pillar of international business she said there are opportunities to explore in hedge funds, banking and other financial services to diversify away from reinsurance without affecting the reputation of the Island.

?International business is feeling the pinch. The Government has taxed them to the hilt and they have not given a lot of consideration to the cost of doing business in Bermuda.

?The approach I would take is to be more collaborative, a little more consultative and get a better understanding of what their industries can sustain and treat them as equal partners, not by utilising them as the icon from which we can solve all of our social problems.?

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin vows to improve the public school system by holding it more accountable for its results and would give headmasters of schools more autonomy in programmes and have them produce zero-based budgets so they are accountable for money received from Government.

?There is no excuse for the public school sector not to perform up to the standards of the private schools and we are paying $4,000 or $5,000 more per student per annum in the public schools than the private schools.

?We have a top heavy bureaucracy within the Education ministry and some of our more experienced teachers are coming out of the classroom to go into high paid positions made available within the Education department.

?I am suggesting we start paying our teachers what they are worth.?

She suggests that if the problems of the public education system are addressed there will be a mindset where students will matriculate at a higher rate and once they go to college they will take advantage of opportunities in the international business sector.

?I refuse to believe within our economy and country that the only people capable of holding key jobs are people we bring in from abroad. It cannot be right.

?I am proud to be a Bermudian having been appointed to the position of vice president of Everest Reinsurance.?

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin criticised the Government for failing to support the interests of working-class Bermudians.

Housing allowances, medical attention for seniors and offering seniors a free eyeglass programme are some of the things the Shadow Minister suggests could make the lives of residents better.

The Shadow Minister said she would look at how seniors and children have been accommodated within the economic pie and would introduce an economic empowerment bill where the working class are not just employees but become business owners.

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin said she would undertake a review of the taxation system and advocates a reduction in the payroll tax, looking at customs duties and how the retail sector is failing.

?The retail sector is failing because they have to pay up front customs duty and not necessarily getting people to purchase their goods and you cannot operate an effective business if you don?t have cash flow.?

When asked if a UBP Government would cut taxes, Mrs. Gordon Pamplin responded: ?I would have a serious look at payroll taxes to the extent payroll taxes are cut it becomes a little more money for somebody to buy a loaf of bread and occasionally a slice of cake.?

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin said she will continue to speak out on social issues affecting the community ? particularly care for seniors.

?I have a passion for this as I have an aged mother and I have many constituents who fall within the realm of seniors who are struggling. Louise Jackson has been a Trojan for the plight of seniors and her programmes and recommendations are really things I?d want to support.?

A well-known player of gaming machines before they were outlawed here, Mrs. Gordon Pamplin said she would take no gambles as steward of the public purse.

?I wouldn?t gamble with people?s money. I am a 25 cents machine person and enjoy it. There is difference between the responsibility for other people?s money and what one does in their spare time.?

Away from the pressures of the House of Assembly, Mrs. Gordon Pamplin is a self-described tennis freak and plays on a regular basis. She also likes to read and travel.

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin, the daughter of Dr. E. F. Gordon, has been married to Dennis Pamplin for 12 years and has two sons ? Trevor Mouchette, 40, and Karriem Sharrieff, 20, who is away at college.

?My mother Mildred Bean is in a nursing home but I spend as much time with her as I possibly can. I take her out at least once a week.? Mrs. Gordon Pamplin said her grassroots style has more of a common touch than Mr. Gibbons academic bearing.

Mrs. Gordon Pamplin is an accountant with 20 years experience working in the reinsurance industry. She said while there is a perception that being an accountant will translate into being a good Finance Minister particularly in managing budgets she believes she has the attributes to be an effective steward of the economy.

?I have a tremendous perception and experience with what?s happens in the international business arena and with that being our major economic pillar that is a benefit for me.?

The Shadow Minister started working on her reply prior to last Friday?s release of the Budget.