Premier Ewart Brown yesterday declared public education the biggest disappointment of his four-year tenure.

Dr. Brown criticised many Bermudians' unwillingness to accept change as he complained about the slow pace of reform at his final Brown Bag Lunch at Camden.

Fielding questions from about 30 residents for an hour and a half as he ate a light snack, the Premier also:

• revealed an amphitheatre is being considered for Morgan's Point;

• bemoaned former Governor Sir John Vereker's refusal to bring Rudy Giuliani's security firm to the Island before gang violence escalated out of control;

• hit out at industrial action from unions;

• said support is now growing for Independence.

Asked to name anything he had failed to get done since replacing Alex Scott in November 2007, Dr. Brown told the audience: "If I have a disappointment, it's in education, just because I feel in four years we should be able to move things further.

"The challenge there was that too many Bermudians want to go to Heaven but they don't want to die. We want the goal, but we don't want to work. We want the change but we don't want to be the change."

He pointed to the millions of dollars spent on public education and said: "I told my first Education Minister [Randy Horton] if we are going to get illiterate kids, we can get that for free. I was aggressive.

"But the minute we come up to resistance, we back up. We can't fix education without having some teachers take on extra work.

"We have taken what I consider to be a mild approach to change. I don't think you can change big things like that by being mild."

Dr. Brown said he foresaw much of the public resistance to his own style.

"I had a pretty good idea of Bermuda," he said. "Our no-can-do attitude. I knew I was bringing ideas I either picked up in Jamaica, Washington or California.

"I knew I was going to be considered arrogant. I expected resistance. Every day, going to work was like preparing for battle.

"Once we see progress being made, it frightens us. I think we tend to forget where we were and where we are now."

But he said Bermudians are now starting to show more willingness to talk openly about issues such as race and politics.

Asked about plans for a multi-million dollar resort at Morgan's Point, Dr. Brown said Government would continue to own some of the land and "the idea of an amphitheatre is on the book".

Saying it would not be another Tucker's Town, he added: "It's going to be a resort but it's not going to be a closed community."

On crime, the Premier said he was in Los Angeles when gang violence began to take off in the 1980s, and spotted similar trends on the Island early in his tenure.

"I went to the Governor four years ago and said, you have got to allow us to bring in the Giuliani group because crime is a concern, especially gun crime," he said.

"The Governor at the time turned me down. He said he would not allow that group to come in."

Explaining gang violence has since got out of hand, he said: "Now we are trying our best to keep a lid on it. I still feel our response to it could have been more forceful, more dramatic."

One Progressive Labour Party supporter strongly criticised the party's failure to push for Independence in its early years in Government.

The Premier said: "Our numbers show a steady increase in the number of Bermudians in favour of Independence.

"I know we didn't put it on the front burner because of the political fact of the numbers. I believed the Big Conversation would ultimately lead to some consideration of Independence."

The only MP in attendance was backbencher Wayne Perinchief, one of the Premier's most outspoken critics.

Asked why he was there, Mr. Perinchief told The Royal Gazette: "I want to see Ewart. On a personal level, we get on well. I thought I would come down and say hello. I might not get a lot of opportunities between now and when he leaves in October."