totally unnecessary bit of Government nonsense. There is an important unanswered question. Why has this register been created? The only answer we have heard is that the Department of Immigration was tired of answering questions from people seeking to prove they were Bermudian.

Surely that is part of the Department's job. Setting up this insulting register simply because of laziness in the Civil Service seems an extraordinary step to take.

For a few years now, in certain dealings with Government, people have had to undergo the insulting process of proving they are Bermudian. During such things as passport applications, Bermudians are asked to prove that they are Bermudian. This has caused many Bermudians to be both angry and resentful. We thought this "prove it'' process was just a ploy to get more money out of people by making them pay for such things as their parents' birth certificates to prove citizenship.

That is, of course, all total nonsense. A person is innocent until proven guilty. If Government doubts that someone is Bermudian, then Government has to prove the claim to be Bermudian is false. In 98 percent of the cases, that would be easy to do. It is not for Government to force Bermudians to prove that they are Bermudian. That does happen now and Immigration is generally unhelpful and we think some people who actually are Bermudian are denied and deprived. The Civil Service should be there to help people, not to deprive people. Sometimes people are deprived because there is confusion over the law and not everyone can afford a lawyer to prove their citizenship. We think this register is ultimately aimed at exclusion and not at inclusion of Bermudians.

The Senate was told on Wednesday that the new register does not take away nationality from people nor does it give nationality to anyone. That may be true in the first instance but in the future this register will become "the bible'' and the words, "You're not on the register'' from Immigration will be final.

The first thing wrong is the title of the act setting up this register. We think that it is wrong and all but immoral to continue to refer to "Bermudians'' and "Status Bermudians''. You are Bermudian or you are not and to continue to use the term "Status Bermudian'' implies some kind of second rate Bermudian. Having said that, it is totally wrong to have a register of "Bermudian Status'' and it is wrong to stamp passports with such nonsense.

The whole problem may arise because we have changed the law too often and even Government, which should know, does not know who is and is not Bermudian.

According to a complicated pattern of when and where you were born and whether you were born to a Bermudian man or a Bermudian woman, you may or may not be Bermudian. If we had a clear, sensible and non-discriminatory law then we might know where we are. Over the years Government has pandered to pressure groups by changes to the immigration laws and this unnecessary register is the result. Now one of the major pressure groups, the Progressive Labour Party, is the most severe critic of this register.

We think Government is creating a totally unnecessary register and creating a problem for itself. People who should be there will be left off. People who are clearly not Bermudian will be included. As sensible Senator Norma Cox Astwood has said, there will be hardship, hurt and anger.

It is all unnecessary.