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The Transport Minister also said people are no longer afraid to express themselves.

"One of the reasons you see such an expression is because for the first time they feel free enough to do that without having to worry about their mortgages being pulled.

"It won't be until later this year that a bank will not have a right to pull a mortgage. Even Johannesburg had taken that off their books. The only fear amongst Bermuda now is that the UBP will be in power again."

However, Shadow Health Minister Kim Young said the Government had grossly overspent the people's money.

"Government's supposed to be people's Government. There's very little evidence of this," she said.

"Their miracle is managing to spend more with precious little to show for it. Are we better off today than we were five Budgets ago?" she asked. "Our children will be saddled with that debt later."

While Bermudians were not hit with any new taxes, Mrs. Young said they were still trying to absorb those imposed on them in the past.

As she said highlighted recent violent crimes in the community involving youth, Mrs. Young said more money had to be funneled into programmes which will stem negative behaviours in the Island's young people.

"Is this the kind of society we want our children to grow up in? No. There's nothing in the Budget to address this.

"Some kids have no aspirations. We do not seem to have the correct social programmes in place even though we have a sound economy," Mrs. Young said.

She suggested that Government channel funds towards a television campaign aimed at better parenting.

"Instead of allocating $9 million for a building to house troubled youth, let's start with bringing parenting programmes.

"Parents need to make sure their children go to school, do their homework, and enforce their curfew. We need to come down on parents."

Saying the three percent increase in pensions translates to an extra $20 a month, Mrs. Young said $1 million seed money for the proposed unemployment insurance should be given to the Island's senior citizens.

Former Premier Pamela Gordon (UBP) hit back at Dr. Brown's claims that the razing of derelict houses was her Government's way of tackling Bermuda's drug problem.

"It was a policy I had approved," she said. "I had a personal interest. We went and demolished housed which were structurally unsound, not houses that could have been rehabilitated.

"Not only did the former UBP Government demolish properties, but we did so with the permission or at the request of property owners. They wanted to bring the drug scourge into the open," Ms Gordon said.

While she said the community was becoming unstable, Ms Gordon said the Bermuda's people must live by the laws of the country and Government must enforce them.

"We have to sing with the same voice in the same choir to issues which threatens the well-being of our society," she said.

As he agreed with Ms Gordon, PLP MP Elvin James sad what was missing from the community was the absence of the four pillars which kept it strong: church, family, home and school.

"Many of the social problems have been exhibited by teenagers," Mr. James said. "The educational system which failed them did not fail them five years ago, it failed them 13 years ago, with the example of a 13-year-old.

"What we will have years from now will be the results of what has been implemented today. We will see a well-rounded teenager.

"Many people say the Government is failing the young people. I say the blame falls right on the parents. What has changed from 30 years ago to now? Nothing has changed except the young people are now different," Mr. James said. "We need to use every resource that is available in the community. We need to use the church."

Allan Marshall (UBP) said debate on the Budget could not solely deal with 2003, but the Budgets of the last four years.

"The public is more interested in their track record," he said. "We, the Opposition , have decided to look at the complete picture of the last five years of Budgets.

"Government members just want to talk about this Budget because it's an election budget. When we look at other Budgets in hindsight, we see some policy issues we find very disturbing."

He said the strong economy was the result of the private sector's response to it, and Government was the "beneficiary of what the private sector produces".

"Government has tried to take the credit. When you look at revenues in 1998, you see that Government's current expenditure account has increased by $150 million. They are deficit spending. Can you imagine if the Government had not increased its staff or spending since 1998, the Country would be looking at surplus spending of $103 million," he said. "It could have easily paid for Berkeley, gone to the hospital or boosted pension plans."

Mr. Marshall said the PLP had put up taxes and Bermudians had had enough.

The PLP could offer sweetheart budgets, but voters would see through it and realise it was inflationary and the Island was on the "precipice of a debt cliff".

He asked how Mr. Cox could ignore economic warning signs like the slowdown in the US economy. And he said it was "ludicrous and reckless" to base spending projections for 2002-03 on gross domestic product figures from 2001 which were still provisional.

"The Minister might as well read tea leaves, for this is no way to plan budgets for the 21st Century," said Mr. Marshall.

The PLP had created "a debt bomb", he said. "The only question is: `how long is the fuse?'"

And he claimed Bermuda has "missed the boat" when it comes to e-commerce because an e-commerce national plan had still not been produced, years after it was promised.

The Government's Budget was "terrific" and it was "very difficult for the Opposition to find any constructive criticism", said Reginald Burrows (PLP).

But he said he was "concerned" about the rise in the size of the civil service and urged Mr. Cox to curb expenditure there.

"I hope the Minister will be able to curtail some expense because I hate to see big government," he said. "It is a psyche of a lot of civil servants that if I have a big department, I become more important. This is a psyche that has to be curtailed. If we can't cut spending that way, we are going to have problems."

Stanley Morton (PLP) said no young person in Bermuda should complain about not having an education or financial assistance as everything was available for them on the Island.

And he urged Mr. Cox to conShadow Legislative Affairs Minister John Barritt praised Mr. Burrows for warning of the dangers of not keeping the Civil Service budget under control.

Government was growing at a quicker rate than the economy and Government spending was outstripping gross domestic product by three or four times, storing up problems for the future. It was important to take Government to task on its claim it had created 2,400 jobs, he said. A closer look at the figures revealed there had been a decline of 1,000 in the number of jobs held by Bermudians in 2001-02, said Mr. Barritt.

He agreed the criminal justice system needed reform, but could not tell from the Budget statement how this would occur.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said the PLP had misunderstood when her party stated in the Budget reply that it realised that many people voted with their hearts in 1998.

"Mr. Perinchief said we offended the intelligence of the black people in Bermuda, " she said. "But there is no where in the statement that denigrates the intelligence of anyone. There's nothing wrong with people making emotional decisions. By extension, they voted for a black party."

Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin also said the statement had to be clarified because members of the Opposition were "a caring, compassionate group of people".

She added that the new UBP will will embrace all Bermudians, something she said the PLP Government had not done.

Under the PLP, she said, her party had seen many people excluded, especially during the long-term residency discussions held last year.

Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin also criticised monies being earmarked for adding more Police officers to the Financial Crimes Unit when there appeared to be a serious problem with crime in the community.

Praising Housing Minister David Burch for his efforts in recent months, Government MP Neletha Butterfield said the Opposition was quick to criticise: "Seniors living in units in Southside have said they are enjoying it. All of the condos at Perryville have been sold. You don't hear about those things.

"The National Training Board has programmes in place to help those who need educational help."

Health Minister Nelson Bascome said although the Opposition would claim the NDC was a shambles and he was attacked over the closure of Fairhavens, Fairhavens was run by the private sector.

King Edward VII Memorial Hospital had never had a comprehensive per item schedule for medical work, but this had now been introduced.

The National Office for Seniors and the Physically Challenged was working well and the NDC had rescued and was running Camp Spirit.

A UBP demand for free prescriptions and eye glasses for seniors was already in place.

Ashfield DeVent (PLP) described the Reply to the Budget as an "underarm pansy delivery with a tennis ball".

The PLP would liberate people from the "30 years of stupor and apathy" which the UBP had caused. Drugs have been in Bermuda for 30 years, but the UBP had not come up with any programmes to effectively deal with them, then the Opposition attacked the PLP for its Alternatives to Incarceration programme, which, Mr. DeVent said, was working.

Education Minister Paula Cox said she had met school representatives who supported Government's plans for change.

She warned against people making grievances over public positions like the Director of Public Prosecutions "by innuendo" and through the press.

On schools for children with special needs, she said you cannot have children with a mental age of four in senior schools in mainstream education.

The UBP was being hypocritical over e-commerce: criticising Government for allegedly doing nothing but also attacking them when they spent money to do something.

The UBP was now portraying itself as visionaries, but when they were in power, schools did not have the infrastructure needed to embrace opportunities and had become second class.

Government backbencher Delaey Robinson said he was appalled by the "tripe that's been trotted out today".

"The Budget is just what the doctor ordered," he said. "Sweetheart Budgets are not a phenomenon. In 1993, we had an election and the Budget preceding that they (UBP went one better that a sweetheart Budget. Revenue numbers actually decreased by one percent."

And, he said, in the following year revenue rose nine percent.

However, the MP said, he had to shatter some myths which are believed of the Government. One, he said, is that the it is a tax and spend Government.

Mr. Robinson said in the four years before PLP won the election, the average increase in expenditure was 9.6 percent.

"For the same period year-on-year increase in (PLP's) current account expenditure is only 6.01 percent.

"It gets worse because we are accused of being taxers," her said.

And when Mr. Robinson compared tax increases between the two Governments during the same period, he said the UBP increased taxes by 8.6 percent but the PLP Government had only increased taxes by 4.1 percent.

"I listened with horror with the scenario they have built over the years. And the year-on-year increases do not account for inflation or how economy is doing. It's smarter to look at Government's contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)."

Mr. Robinson said when Government spending was examined during the first two years under the PLP, their spending was the equivalent of 20 percent of the GDP, the same as the UBP in its last eight years of power.

"But if you look at our last two years, we are in the teens," he said. "You have to go back to 1980-1981, 1981-1982, 1986-1987, when they were in the teens, too. You'll see our spending has gone down."

And Mr. Robinson said Government's spending was less than half of other countries in the OECD.

Fears that Government might be over-borrowing were unfounded: "Over the last four years borrowing has not gone up under this Government."

Mr. Robinson also denied the PLP had increased the number of Government workers during its tenure. He said while conducting research, when he looked at the employment survey he discovered there was no breakdown between the number of people employed in both the public and private sectors and he said manpower numbers had been underreported by the previous Government.

In some cases, employees in temporary posts had worked for the Government for ten years.

"...Those bad habits led to people being employed without any of the 20th Century benefits."

Premier Jennifer Smith said she hardly recognised the "new" UBP.

"The old UBP had a member named Maxwell Burgess....Tim Smith...and their new members have the same names. They must take responsibility for their actions of the past. A weed by another name would be just as useless. Have they undergone a transformation in five years, so can they be trusted? The answer is no."

And she accused the UBP of double standards.

"First they accuse of expanding Government, but what is the first thing they say they'll do... Create new ministries," she said. "The Alice in Wonderland reply promises UBP will work hand in hand with labour."

Ms Smith also said Government has allowed residents to have in say in issues which have been important to the country, such as Caricom and long-term residency.

"This was unheard of during the last Government," she said.

Community Affairs Minister Randolph Horton, standing in for Mr. Cox, said bringing in more private sector accountants was proof the Auditor General's office was being strengthened.

The UBP said 13 departments had overspent by more than $2 million, but before the 1998 election, 20 departments had overspent by $21 million without approval, Mr. Horton said.

And the UBP was wrong to claim the PLP was indulging in illegal practices. Supplementary estimates would be before the House before the end of the fiscal year.

Addressing UBP complaints about big government, Mr. Horton said the UBP did not properly fund social programmes such as health and education when it was in power.

"For the first time in Bermuda's history we have a community blessed with sufficient teachers in the classroom," he said. Staffing levels in the Police and Fire services were reasonable as well.

In line with the PLP's "commitment to transparency", Government was for the first time showing what public sector workers were producing by including performance goals in the Budget.

And he attacked the UBP for walking out of the House before the debate had finished.

"There's not a word from the UBP. We're here debating the people's business and they are not even here."

International business was here for the long run and tourism had slipped under previous governments.

Seasoned business leaders did not echo the "doom and gloom" of the Opposition. "They expect a difficult year ahead, but they expect to be in business," he said.

While other countries had deficits in the balance of payments after the September 11 attacks, Bermuda remained in surplus.