Exactly how many new homes have either been created or are soon to be completed was the lead task for Senator David Burch as the new Senate met for its first full session.

Only three PLP senators were present as newcomers Phil Perinchief and Wayne Caines were in the UK. However young Senator Kim Wilson and Sen. Davida Morris were there for what turned out to be a day-long debate of the Throne Speech.

Government Senate Leader Sen. Burch set his focus on housing, for which he is also Minister, and said tantalisingly, "There are many things on the housing burner that are bubbling away that I can't share at this moment," before launching into a breakdown of how many housing units have materialised out of the "330 within 30 months" promised in the 2005 Throne Speech.

The number is 284, said Sen. Burch, correcting the Throne Speech by downgrading the stated figure by two. He then went on to pinpoint where he got that number from.

He began with the "on target for completion" 110 units at the Harbour View village, then added 96 units at Loughlands in Paget which have been granted planning permission, next came 16 two-bedroom units at Anchorage Village in St. George's which, all being well, he believes will be providing housing for families by the end of the year.

As a "trial balloon" Government is attempting to sell the Anchorage Village units as 'life-interests' so they can not be willed onward to a relative but returned to Government ownership after the owner dies. As a result of this arrangement the price of buying such a limited lease home will be lower than normal.

Sen. Burch's housing count was now at 222 and he boosted it further by adding 54 condo units planned for Westcott Road in Southside as part of a $3.8 public/private contract with Trinity Construction. To reach his magic figure of 284 he added eight more one-bedroom units being built at Butterfield Lane in Somerset and due for habitation by Christmas.

These homes would feature rents geared to the income of the tenants. The occupants will pay rent that equals one quarter of their household income. That income will be only what they earn, no other Government financial assistance will be given.

Sen. Burch said the reason for this was to lessen the stigma people faced having to go "cap in hand" around various Government departments. As an added incentive to encourage tenants to learn the benefits of saving and moving forward the geared rents will be assessed only every second year, giving tenants an opportunity to put away extra money they earn in the meantime from annual pay rises and such like.

Having reached the Throne Speech housing total, the Housing Minister went on to speak of 38 units planned for Perimeter Lane, some 200 units in the planned emergency shelter in North Hamilton, the soon-to-open rest home in St. George's, and 100 seniors' residences at the planned Rockaway development in Southampton.

And he said people who are irresponsible will not be tolerated by Government, adding: "We will not tolerate people who are 'gimmie, gimmie, gimmie'. We are not running a candy shop. There are no hand-outs. We will not have a situation where people go to the housing corporation and think it's McDonald's and you can have it your way."

Sen. Burch also touched on the introduction of the incentive and privileges programmes to motivate prisoners to be productive, the need for people to get in the habit of recycling and his intention that there will be zero tolerance of law-breakers.

Opening for the UBP was Sen. Kim Swan who took immediate aim at the PLP's attempt to portray its latest Cabinet as a "new" administration when, he pointed out, it featured only the old faces of past Ministers with the exception of new Attorney General, Sen. Phil Perinchief.

"It is a shuffling of the deck when Bermuda is calling for a new deck," he said.

He lambasted Government for talking about programmes that are going to happen when in reality they should have happened years before during the PLP's eight years in power. He said: "We should be celebrating all these things already happening. But there have been people asleep at the wheel concentrating on personal agendas."

The failure to secure a developer for the derelict Club Med site was another indictment of Government not fulfilling its role, said Sen. Swan as he talked about the termination of KJA Developments' period of exclusivity as developer some ten months after it had been announced.

He accused Government of "dropping the ball" in regards to a vision to create a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course at Morgan's Point first proposed in the mid-1990s.

"That type of vision presented itself to Bermuda. The PLP dropped the ball big time. Here we are in 2006 with a Minister dedicated to a golf and spa season without the product to go with it and all the jobs it would have created," he said.

He said Bermuda had lost its romance for tourism and the Government had been wrong to "give away" Stonington Beach which had been used to educate young Bermudians in tourism.

Sen. Swan said the lack of a referendum on independence was one of the main reasons why the country was "wound up tight". Letting the people have their say on the issue would create a more settled Bermuda, he added.

He said Government had deliberately "retarded" race relations and spurned the chance to improve the climate in the wake of the 1998 election win. Politicians needed to show respect to each other, he stated.

Sen. Swan also called on Government to consider bringing down interest rates so more first-time buyers could qualify for new homes being built at below market prices in the region of $450,000, such as at Loughlands.

"Interest rates make a big, big difference," added the Opposition Senator.

Independent Carol Ann Bassett said there was a "real sense of hope in the community" about some of the ideas outlined in the Throne Speech. Now was the time for action, she added.

Sen. Bassett said that the traffic laws needed to be enforced, noting that some young bike riders were "ripping around the Island like maniacs", even in the aftermath of fatal crashes. To make up for the loss of revenue if public transport is made free, she suggested that it should become "very, very expensive" to commit a traffic offence.

And she repeated calls for a crackdown on drivers using cellphones when on the road. "It's become so prevalent in Bermuda it's scary," said the Independent. "Sooner or later we are going to have a tragedy because someone is distracted."

In her debut Senate speech, PLP Senator Kim Wilson focused on education.

The lawyer said that public education "must not fail anyone" and added: "We must no longer stand by and make excuses about why our plans do not come to fruition."

She said that every school would be held accountable to a set of standards with checks and balances.

The technical institute would not be re-opened at this stage, the Senate heard, but technical education was "alive and well" and expanding in senior schools.

Stressing the importance of sport, she said that a review of the Island's sporting clubs was complete and consultation would now start about improving facilities and making them more efficient.

Independent Walwyn Hughes said of up to 40 ideas in the 2005 Throne Speech, no more than ten saw the light of day through new laws. "Most of the laws promised never appeared."

Housing and education were the two biggest issues on Government's plate, and Sen. Hughes said that opportunities had been missed in both fields over the last eight years.

On the new hospital saga, he said it was unrealistic to expect laws to protect green space like the Botanical Gardens forever because laws could be shelved as easily as they are passed. Government had to be trusted that protected land would stay that way.

Economic empowerment zones and related duty cuts would reduce money flowing into Government coffers. And Sen. Hughes said the economy would have to be managed carefully or taxes might have to go up.

Opposition Senator Gina Spence Farmer praised elements of the Throne Speech, including job training for students, paid internships and parenting programmes.

But she said that the PLP had only built ten homes in the last year for families in "dire need. Other schemes were either works in progress or were waiting for contracts to be signed and she said this could take too long to deliver. She said the UBP had pledged to build 100 homes for affordable rent.

Sen. Spence Farmer hit out at the "failed" Alternative To Incarceration drug treatment project. She claimed that Government, before 1998, had hailed this as the answer to cutting the number of repeat offenders, but since taking power the project had been passed from Home Affairs to Health, had no leadership and inadequate funding.

Another maiden speech came from new PLP Senator Davida Morris.

The 25-year-old addictions counsellor won praise from all sides of the Upper Chamber with her comments on race.

She said that she had encountered racism in Bermuda, and described this as a "sad and at times infuriating" experience.

Miss Morris said purging Bermuda of the scourge of racism was long overdue. However, she said that the older generation that lived through the injustices of segregation had to lead the debate. She said she hoped this would enable new bridges to be built so the Island could "really be a whole community".

She said, given her background as a counsellor, she was excited about the new Social Rehabilitation Ministry. "People have to understand the disease of addiction," said Miss Morris.

"Addicts need help. They can't overcome it without help."

UBP Senator Bob Richards said he expected more details and context in the Throne Speech and asked if voters could trust Dr. Brown.

"Dame Jennifer trusted him. Look what happened to her," said Sen. Richards. "Alex Scott kept him close so he could keep an eye on him. Look what happened to him."

He then tore into the economic record of Government, accusing it of doing nothing to alleviate the effects of an overheating economy that had pushed up housing prices and been disastrous for the average Bermudian family, illustrating how the construction boom and the need to import workers as the economy overheated has resulted in skyrocketing rents.

He could see little sense in looking to establish a poverty line as they are notoriously subjective, he claimed, and warned against the future of race relations on the Island following the appointment of Rolfe Commissiong as the Premier's consultant on the topic. Sen. Richards said the signs were ominous and he did not see much merit in the idea of seeking "solutions" from Trinidad and Jamaica where the ethnic make-up and economic situations present different dynamics compared with Bermuda. What is needed, he said, is a closing of the economic and educational gap that exist between sectors of the population. He also called for more accountability in the educational system and particularly within schools.

And referring to Premier Dr. Brown's comment in Parliament that Government was in neutral gear but was about to start moving up the gears, he rejoined: "This Government has been in neutral gear since 1998 and been grinding its gears ever since."

Senate President Alf Oughton questioned why so often subsequent Throne Speeches make no mention of items from the previous year that have yet to be achieved or completed. He said this year's speech was short, which would make it easier in 2007 to track what had been achieved and to hold Government accountable.

An initiative to make employers recruit and train a set proportion of Bermudians within their workforce was a good idea, he thought, although he saw some potential problems with smaller companies being unable to fulfil the requirements and suggested Government consider incentives such as tax breaks to help those smaller companies afford to train a local worker.

Sen. Oughton also spoke of his wish that companies be encouraged to keep retired workers within health care insurance schemes, even if the retired worker has to keep paying the full premium, as it would help the retiree to afford medications that would otherwise be too expensive.

Another way of achieving the aim of seniors being able to get the medications they need without becoming impoverished or worse, trying to do without, would be for Government to restructure the system so that seniors are able to get free medications with the cost spread out across the rest of the population. Sen. Oughton rounded off by saying Government is going to need a skilled approach in the coming budget round to find ways to pay for big capital projects such as the new hospital and changes to the Causeway crossing.