Parliament will be sitting on 9 May 2022. It will commence at 1.30 pm. You may view the proceedings live on MCI’s YouTube channel at this link.
During this upcoming session of Parliament, Members of Parliament have filed 87 questions for oral answers and 50 questions for written answers. The Government will be introducing 2 new bills – the Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill and the Endangered Species (Import and Export) (Amendment) Bill.
Second readings for the following bills will also take place – the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Bill and the Adoption of Children Bill.
Mr Murali Pillai, the member of Bukit Batok SMC, will be moving an adjournment motion on the topic of “A Case to Review the Model of Estate Management for Public Housing in Singapore”.
You may access the Order Paper here.
On Women in NS
Ms Poh Li San, who was a former flight commander of a helicopter squadron in the Air Force, and Ms Carrie Tan, have filed questions about women in the Singapore Armed Forces, and the enlistment of women for national service, respectively.
Ms Tan’s question brings to mind the suggestion of Ms Corrina Lim, AWARE’s Executive Director, that NS be made gender-neutral.
Aware executive director Corinna Lim also called on the Government to expand the roles available in National Service so that both women and men can participate. She suggested that roles in healthcare and social work be included in NS. https://t.co/Vo2xaYd9oV
— TODAY (@TODAYonline) May 25, 2021
On Cheating Law Students
The cheating law students, who have dominated headlines for a couple of weeks now, are also part of the Parliamentary agenda as no less than 4 MPs from both sides of the aisle have filed questions relating to them.
On 30 April 2022, the Law Minister, Mr K Shanmugam said that “Honesty, good behaviour, very high standard of conduct. (These are) extremely important, and dishonesty is an absolute no-no.”
On COVID-19
Several MPs filed questions relating to TraceTogether (have you uninstalled it or do you still keep it?), Dorscon levels and mask-off events.
Leon Perera, the member for Aljunied, has filed a question on “excess deaths” (deaths that may have been due to Covid or any other unusual phenomenon, being deaths that go beyond the expected trend-line).
The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Pritam Singh, has filed a question addressed to the Prime Minister relating to the Government’s after-action review on COVID-19.
On Safe Distancing Ambassadors
Several MPs filed questions about Safe Distancing Ambassadors and others in COVID-19 related jobs, and measures to help them transition to sunrise industries.
On the F&B Manpower Crunch
If you were in a restaurant this past week and service was slower than usual, you might want to tune in for this. Some MPs filed questions relating to the labour shortage, particularly in the food and beverage industry.
On REACH’s survey on the LGBTQ+ Community in Singapore
There were 2 questions filed about the government’s short-lived survey on Section 377A and the LGTBQ+ community. This was an unprecedented public survey that was up for about a day and received over 30,000 responses within that short span of time.
Government survey on Section 377A and LGBT Issues has been removedhttps://t.co/ZW9tnMwaiO pic.twitter.com/nogI6Sm4sH
— Wake Up Singapore (@wakeupsg) March 23, 2022
On Food Delivery Riders
Dr Tan Wu Meng, the member for Jurong, filed 2 questions on stronger protections for food and goods delivery platform workers
On Children with Special Needs
Ms Cheryl Chan, the member for East Coast, filed 2 questions on children with special needs.
On the Working Hours of Doctors and Nurses
Mr Louis Ng, the Member for Nee Soon, filed a question in respect of the working hours of nurses and doctors.
On the transportation of Migrant Workers in Lorries
Mr Louis Ng also filed a question on the transportation of migrant workers at the rear of lorries.
On repeated sex offenders
Mr Pritam Singh filed a question on recalcitrant sex offenders.
On egg-freezing
Ms Cheng Li Hui, the member for Tampines, asked the government if the age limit for egg freezing can be increased to 40.
On the number of public holidays in Singapore
Mr Jamus Lim, the member for Sengkang, filed a question to ask the Government to review its position on the number of public holidays in Singapore.
For what it’s worth, we are of the view that we should reinstate Thaipusam a public holiday in Singapore (again).
We will cover developments stemming from these questions in the days to come.
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