kicked off the proceedings after the Opposition Leader?s Reply to the Budget, by characterising the Budget as a demonstration of Government?s ?fiscal prudence and social sensitivity?.

He said the Budget validated the decision of the electorate in sending the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) into power.

Dr. Gibbons? Reply had displayed an ?obsession with superficial detail? which had little connection with reality, and he had made statements out of context, Dr. Brown said.

He said Dr. Gibbons had ended his speech in a dramatic manner but ?the real issue is what is the relationship between this and the truth. After all that does have its place even in this House.?

He noted that his Government was working with the former United Bermuda Party?s (UBP) budget when it came into power in 1998, and that the Opposition Leader was misleading the House by saying that Government had spent a $78 million revenue windfall on oversize cars and excessive travel ? because the cars were bought during the first year in power before a PLP budget came into effect.

?We do not claim that this Government has got it all right. But the UBP was at the helm for much longer than two terms and much longer than five years and according to the people of Bermuda they did not get it right,? he said.

He admitted that the UBP had some ?interesting ideas? on housing which were ?basically sound?.

?And as any good government will do, we will entertain ideas from any source.?

But he went on to deride the UBP Leader?s call to outsource housing to the Opposition party.

?The UBP had the whole enchilada in its hands for 300 plus years,? he said.

?And they didn?t outsource.

?But in 1998, the people of Bermuda outsourced the entire Government to the PLP.?

And to the charge that Government had been hiding information, he said the reality of politics was that the Government side often had information that they did not divulge to the Opposition Party.

?We were in Opposition long enough to understand that reality of politics,? Dr. Brown said.

?It?s not that we are trying to hide it, we are not showing it to them.?

Turning to Dr. Gibbons? anxiety over the return of exchange controls, Dr. Brown said: ?The only time Bermuda ever experienced exchange controls was under a UBP Government.

?So if it was a spectre, why did the government of the day defend it as necessary for Bermuda ??

He went on to say that tourism?s decline did not begin under the PLP government, but that the industry was ?well on its way down? in the late eighties.

And he said the UBP?s concerns about the slowing of the rate of growth of international business did not take into account sustainable development.

?Government will look at sustainable development in our country and will be wise in our approach,? he said.

The Deputy Premier said that the UBP?s touting of an Economic Development Authority was not in and of itself a ?dangerous concept?, but the Opposition was developing a trend of suggesting an Authority of some sort if they perceived that Government was not moving fast enough.

?An Authority is not always the answer because it gives Government an excuse for not moving fast enough,? Dr. Brown said.

The Transport Minister then turned his attention to his portfolio, saying that it was not scheduled in for the departmental debates next week.

He said while the Government did not control the cost of airfares they had managed to negotiate lower fares on US Airways to Baltimore.

And Dr. Brown, who is a medical doctor, said Dr. Gibbons was wrong to say that the goal of medicine is to treat disease early because the goal of medicine was to prevent disease from occurring in the first place.

?That?s the old method. In some instances we do have to work on the diseases left by our predecessor and... we cannot prevent them.?

And on Dr. Gibbons? comments that the Financial Services Academy was ?only part of the solution? Dr. Brown agreed saying that ?the educational continuum is a sum of its parts, so having a Financial Services Academy is a part of the process.?

He heaped scorn on claims that the Government had learned to provide for a select few? and reminded the House that when the UBP was in power ?Ministers ordered cars from car dealerships that they themselves owned?.

?How many choices were there?? interjected . ?Accept it as the truth and move on,? Dr. Brown replied. ?When points are scored we move on.?

Moving back to his portfolio Dr. Brown gave his staff full credit for the achievements of his Ministry.

The e-TCD initiative was ?making real progress,? he said.

Dr. Brown recounted various social spending initiatives in the Budget, saying ?this Government is responding not with lip service but with real dollars?.

On housing the homeless, Government had provided $1.2 million. ?The UBP talked about it, we are doing it,? he said.

And $300,000 was being allocated to the Communities that Care programme of the National Drug Commission. And a $2 million allocation for increasing pension benefits will take effect this summer, he continued. Dr. Brown?s list went on to include $1 million for helping small businesses and entrepreneurs and $500,000 toward the National Sports Centre ?that the UBP started talking about 20 years ago?.

?Corporate success in the midst of social dysfunction is an explosion waiting to happen,? he said.

Seniors will welcome the nine percent increase in pensions but ?the fact is it will never be enough.?

Dr. Brown gave former Health Minister full credit for having the vision for a new rest home in St. George?s after he had been appalled by the condition of rest homes across the Island.

And he described as ?major? the five year extension of duty relief for the hotel industry.

He said that Government had been able to ?provide all these benefits in spite of Hurricane Fabian which had affected every sector of the Bermudian economy.

?I know the Opposition would like to blame Fabian on us,? he said. ?But I promise you Mr. Speaker, we did not bring Fabian to Bermuda. It?s unfair to suggest otherwise.?

Fabian?s financial impact was between $160 and 180 million, he said. ?That is huge and it?s glossed over in the Reply.?

Dr. Brown said that the suggestion that Government was capitalising on Fabian was to minimise its impact.

Bermuda had bounced back after the hurricane, he continued. ?I could stand here and speculate on how long it would have taken another Government... I was so proud to be a member of the PLP Government that it soothed my personal sense of loss,? he continued.

?I saw the capacity of my people. I saw what my people can do.?

But he said given that performance during Fabian, he had to wonder whether Bermuda had been operating below standards before the storm.

?Fabian may have been a message to all of us that we should do more when we have the time and the ability to do it and the health to do it. And to me Fabian was a reminder that we probably were at a lower rate.?

Turning back to his portfolio, Dr. Brown said that five new flights were servicing the Island.

?Where will they all stay ?? heckled Maxwell Burgess.

?In Bermuda,? the Minister replied.

And he said that the Island?s two newest ferries will be here in June.

said the five percent rise in bus and ferry fares was due to the fact that in previous years the transport was not luxury travel.

?The buses are now air-conditioned and if you think back to riding the ferry years ago ? you will remember being splashed with water and getting wet, now we have quiet engines and a comfortable and quick ride,? said Dr. Brown. ?You pay for what you get.

?We have not raised the fares in three years and we could have raised them at two-and-a-half percent, which would have made the rise seven percent, but we raised it to only five percent.?

The Minister went on to say that although licensing fees were raised, he reminded the United Bermuda Party that in the past they had raised the rates every year.

He said: ?With respect to the licence fee increase ? there was a policy that we inherited and the fees were raised by two-and-a-half percent every year and the public came to expect the raise.

?Again we have raised it by five percent ? that is the kind of compassionate Government that we are.?

Minister Brown spoke about the repairs at the Bermuda International Airport caused by Hurricane Fabian and said they are expected to be completed by the end of this summer.

?We will continue to further beautify the airport,? said Dr. Brown.said that she was glad to hear about the repairs at the Airport.

?At the moment it looks like it belongs in a third world country,? she said.

On the subject of the budget and of Minister of Finance Paula Cox, Ms Gordon-Pamplin said she spent ?too much time talking about being the first woman? and the budget did not show where it was really going to help the hard-done-by.

?It does not deal with mothers raising children and the cost of living and the conditions of mothers,? said Ms Gordon-Pamplin.

?Mothers are not able to catch up.?

She complained that the Government had not allotted enough money towards the affordable housing issues.

?I would like to point out that only a paltry $4 to $5 million has been allotted to the (Bermuda) Housing Corporation,? she said.

Ms Gordon Pamplin touched on the bus drivers and garbage collectors withdrawing their service because money that had been allotted to them through arbitration had not been given to them on time.

?It?s their right to have their money,? she said.

On the new senior secondary school issue she said that when the project was first discussed by the UBP they were laughed at because they said that the project would cost about $100 million, but now the PLP is faced with a price over that which was initially stated.

?It is now $102m and still rising,? she said.

She said in the two weeks since Minister of Works and Engineering took office they had received more information than with the two previous ministers.

Ms Gordon-Pamplin also urged the Government to look at replacing the Causeway and not to just patching it up, as it is the only route in and out of St. George?s.

She also urged that instead of giving West End Development Corporation money to build a ferry terminal perhaps they should also be looking at repairing the homes that were damaged during Hurricane Fabian.set out to lay out the budget in full, by pointing out the places where the money was destined.

Mr. Perinchief said that the previous Government had led the country to international business.

?Sir David Gibbons (former UBP leader) led the economy from a tourist based economy towards one of international business ? I believe that was his strategy,? said Mr. Perinchief.

He said that much of the economic power was held by the establishment, but the PLP Government was looking at empowering the minorities financially by putting $4m to small businesses.

He said they were planning to help develop small businesses by offering capital venture opportunities for those with a viable business plan.

said the five percent rise in bus and ferry fares was due to the fact that in previous years the transport was not luxury travel.

"The buses are now air-conditioned and if you think back to riding the ferry years ago ? you will remember being splashed with water and getting wet, now we have quiet engines and a comfortable and quick ride," said Dr. Brown. "You pay for what you get.

"We have not raised the fares in three years and we could have raised them at two-and-a-half percent, which would have made the rise seven percent, but we raised it to only five percent."

The Minister went on to say that although licensing fees were raised, he reminded the United Bermuda Party that in the past they had raised the rates every year.

He said: "With respect to the licence fee increase ? there was a policy that we inherited and the fees were raised by two-and-a-half percent every year and the public came to expect the raise.

"Again we have raised it by five percent ? that is the kind of compassionate Government that we are."

Minister Brown spoke about the repairs at the Bermuda International Airport caused by Hurricane Fabian and said they are expected to be completed by the end of this summer.

"We will continue to further beautify the airport," said Dr. Brown.said that she was glad to hear about the repairs at the Airport.

"At the moment it looks like it belongs in a third world country," she said.

On the subject of the budget and of Minister of Finance Paula Cox, Ms Gordon-Pamplin said she spent "too much time talking about being the first woman" and the budget did not show where it was really going to help the hard-done-by.

"It does not deal with mothers raising children and the cost of living and the conditions of mothers," said Ms Gordon-Pamplin.

"Mothers are not able to catch up."

She complained that the Government had not allotted enough money towards the affordable housing issues.

"I would like to point out that only a paltry $4 to $5 million has been allotted to the (Bermuda) Housing Corporation," she said.

Ms Gordon Pamplin touched on the bus drivers and garbage collectors withdrawing their service because money that had been allotted to them through arbitration had not been given to them on time.

"It's their right to have their money," she said.

On the new senior secondary school issue she said that when the project was first discussed by the UBP they were laughed at because they said that the project would cost about $100 million, but now the PLP is faced with a price over that which was initially stated.

"It is now $102m and still rising," she said.

She said in the two weeks since Minister of Works and Engineering took office they had received more information than with the two previous ministers.

Ms Gordon-Pamplin also urged the Government to look at replacing the Causeway and not to just patching it up, as it is the only route in and out of St. George's.

She also urged that instead of giving West End Development Corporation money to build a ferry terminal perhaps they should also be looking at repairing the homes that were damaged during Hurricane Fabian.

set out to lay out the budget in full, by pointing out the places where the money was destined.

Mr. Perinchief said that the previous Government had led the country to international business.

"Sir David Gibbons (former UBP leader) led the economy from a tourist based economy towards one of international business ? I believe that was his strategy," said Mr. Perinchief.

He said that much of the economic power was held by the establishment, but the PLP Government was looking at empowering the minorities financially by putting $4m to small businesses.

He said they were planning to help develop small businesses by offering capital venture opportunities for those with a viable business plan.