Government will go ahead with ending conscription despite the reservations expressed in the independent National Security and Defence Review released last month.

National Security Minister Michael Dunkley told the House of Assembly that the report confirmed the Island’s security services provide an appropriate level of public safety, but noted there was always room for improvement.

And while the report expressed some concern about the end of conscription, Mr Dunkley said Government did not accept those findings and will continue to move foreword with the overdue evolution of the Regiment and its role on the Island.

Shadow National Security Minister Walter Roban said the Opposition supports the end of conscription and agreed with Government that a phased approach appears to be the most sensible strategy. He said: “There’s no way you can just shut down the conscription of recruits tomorrow.”

He stressed the need for Bermuda to protect the 200-mile Economic Exclusive Zone surrounding the Island no matter what the Government choose to pursue for the potentially valuable area.

Shadow Public Safety Minister Walter Roban questioned whether Bermuda needed, or could afford the extra bureaucracy entailed in the creation of a National Disaster Planning Office.

“Unless there’s definitive proof that the Emergency Measures Organisation (EMO) has not served us, do we need to have a full-time National Disaster Coordinator?” the Pembroke East MP asked.

The One Bermuda Alliance’s Jeanne Atherden stressed the value of the report, noting her own experience on the EMO.

“If people don’t know there is a plan in place, the tendency is for there to be a panic,” she said.

Public Works Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin told MPs that the risk of flooding in the Island’s low-lying areas was already being explored and had been budgeted for.

An early warning system for floods “might seem like overkill in Bermuda’s context”, she said — but “it does not hurt us to have a plan”.

And OBA MP Susan Jackson warned of a need for better maritime security in the west end, where she said residents had noticed suspicious boat activity at night.

Transport Minister Shawn Crockwell agreed, telling the House that better coverage for Bermuda’s western waters “needs to be done forthwith”.