Critics of the controversial anti-fronting legislation were yesterday dubbed incompetent, lazy, ignorant or just naive by Immigration Minister David Burch.

In an angry speech in the Upper House, Sen. Burch lambasted complainants and vowed to stick to his guns over the legislation requiring Bermudians with foreign spouses to get licences for their homes.

His comments came midway through a quick-fire Motion to Adjourn outburst in which he tackled a number of ongoing issues that have convinced him "we live in Disneyland".

In the space of ten minutes, Sen. Burch also attacked:

l critics of the Media Council Act;

l MPs who "flip-flopped" on gambling;

l media coverage of the gambling debate;

l people clogging up his e-mail inbox;

l those who didn't heed his advice to get licences for their homes well in advance of this June's deadline;

l "criminals" in the legal and real estate fraternity who have practiced fronting;

l anyone who tell lies;

l people motivated by greed;

l drivers who complain about being stopped for speeding.

Sen. Burch opened his speech by saying he didn't think ten minutes would be long enough to air all his complaints, and regretted that his Progressive Labour Party colleagues hadn't given him extra speaking time by donating portions of their own allotted time.

Speaking at an unusually brisk pace, he began by referring to "the media council furore".

"There's been a campaign for the Right To Know, but I guess we don't have the Right To Know the truth. That's what the media council is designed to do," he said.

He argued the PLP Government has made more ministerial statements in the past ten years than its predecessors ever did.

Barely pausing for breath, he switched to this month's gaming debate, in which numerous MPs spoke against Premier Ewart Brown's proposal to relax Bermuda's gambling laws.

"Again, we live in Disneyland," said Sen. Burch. "We have members of the legislature who don't even understand the legislative process.

"The media said the Premier lost again. What did he lose? We had a debate. Except for one or two cases of people who flip-flopped, what have we had? We are so intellectually dishonest, it's laughable."

Next in the line of fire were people who send the Minister e-mails.

"I'm praying for the whole e-mail system in Government to collapse," he said.

"All 754 e-mails are still there in my inbox. Some of them are from people who e-mailed one, two days ago and said, 'Why aren't you answering?'

"I'm telling you, it's nothing to do with me."

Most of those e-mails, said the Public Safety Minister, are about criminal matters.

He said others are from residents unhappy they have to get licences for their homes because of the anti-fronting legislation. But he vowed to enforce the law and said anyone who doesn't like that can blame Alice and George Burch, his parents.

"They raised me to take things as they are," he said. "If you want to work with me you have to take things as they are.

"The law says that if you are living with a non-Bermudian, you are required to have a licence. Every year, I have pleaded with people to please come and do this because 2010 is coming.

"Now suddenly it's the Government 's fault and we are the big bad wolf.

"You cannot start with criticism because of your own incompetence, laziness, ignorance or just naivety in terms of honouring the law and expect I'm going to have some sympathy. I'm not."

He then said he had no sympathy for "the criminal behaviour of some in the legal fraternity and real estate fraternity who have fronted".

He went on to say the two things he most dislikes are people who lie and those motivated by their own selfish greed.

As the clock ticked toward the ten-minute mark, Sen. Burch moved on to speeding drivers who say Police should go after the real criminals.

"Well you are a criminal too," he said.

And he concluded with a defiant: "People saying the Government have got it wrong? We haven't. And we are not backing down."