A government senator has insisted that Bermuda will not have to open its borders to nationals of Caribbean Community states if the island becomes a full member of the organisation.

Lindsay Simmons, the Junior Minister of Home Affairs, made the claim during a debate on the ministry’s budget in the Upper House today.

Bermuda has been an associate member of the group since 2003, but the Government has expressed plans for Bermuda to become a full member.

The move has raised concerns that full membership could result in open doors for region-wide jobseekers to have unfettered access to Bermuda employment — along with more opportunities for Bermudians to work in the Caribbean. The bloc intends to allow free movement of people between members.

However, in response to questions from opposition senator Marcus Jones, Ms Simmons dismissed those concerns.

Mr Jones asked whether any funds had been set aside by the ministry to conduct research and consultation into the impact of full membership.

He said: “Being that the objective is to complete comprehensive consultation on Caricom membership, engage stakeholders and the public and deliver a Green Paper for decision, being that there’s a fair amount of research and fact-finding that’s required in preparation to the lead-up to this Green Paper, how much of an impact would being a member of Caricom be on our workforce?

“How about the freedom of movement between islands? A question that arises in my mind is, will the Caribbean monetary system actually be considered legal tender in Bermuda? How much will this relationship take away from our international business market share being that our rivals and competitors are under one roof?

“The reason why I ask all those questions is because we will need some expert consultation that may be outside of our shores. Is the ministry in the process of information gathering?

“Are there expenses that they are anticipating in the upcoming year and which line item will that fall under if there is any expenses that are going to be earmarked to cover expertise in the investigation into getting into Caricom.

Ms Simmons did not say if any funding had been set aside to fund the consultation process, but gave assurances that the free movement of people was not on the table for Bermuda.

She said: “The Government is not intending to participate in the Caricom single market and economy aka freedom of movement. Likewise there is no plan to join the monetary union of any kind.”

Ms Simmons spent one hour and 45 minutes of the two-hour debate outlining the spending plans for the three heads that make up the ministry — headquarters, energy and land title and registration.

That left opposition and independent senators with 15 minutes to ask questions.

Mr Jones also grilled Ms Simmons on projections for the Department of Consumer Affairs, which is expected to handle 2,000 “valid” complaints in the coming year.

Mr Jones asked: “What is considered a valid complaint as opposed to an invalid one, and if there as an estimate of 2,000 valid complaints, what would be the expected total number of complaints?

“I’m trying to get an understanding of what the workload would be for this department.”

Mr Jones also asked how many consumer complaint investigations were related to housing disputes between tenants and landlords.

Ms Simmons’s response was not clear. She said: “Consumer affairs takes approximately 100 calls a week. Some of them are just for information purposes.

“Housing, including landlord and tenant, approximately 50 per cent of the contracts.”