Acknowledgement to the Chair

2.37 pm

The Leader of the House (Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien): Mdm Speaker, please allow me to make some round up remarks on this year's Budget and Committee of Supply (COS) debates.

This year's debate comes at a major turning point in our nation's history. Our achievements over the past 50 years have given us plenty to cheer about, but the challenges ahead remind us that we cannot take these successes for granted. In his Budget Statement, the Minister for Finance said that "Budget 2016 is the beginning of a journey towards SG100."

The focus is squarely on the future and getting there together. The emphasis of this Budget is on economic transformation and building a more caring and resilient society. Over the past nine days, many echoed the Finance Minister's call for this twin spirit of enterprise and care for one another.

In total, 499 amendments or "cuts" were filed this year. That is an increase of about 7% from last year, and the highest number in the past five COS debates. We can all pat our backs and claim that we have improved productivity in this Chamber.

A key focus of last year's Budget was to help Singaporeans upgrade their skills and achieve retirement adequacy. With the successful introduction of SkillsFuture, the Silver Support Scheme and a slew of other initiatives, cuts for the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), which received the most cuts last year, fell by almost half. This year, the Ministry that received the highest number of cuts was the Ministry of Health (MOH), which has exploited its pole position wisely by declaring "War on Diabetes".

My Ministry, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), though coming in second, topped the list on total speech time for the cuts filed, the first time in the short history of MCCY. This reflects Members' interest in community building and the "softer" side of nation-building, which has clearly taken on greater emphasis in this post-SG50 year. Even as we look ahead to build Singapore's future economy, we are also asking ourselves how we can better tackle challenges on the social front – preparing for an ageing society and building a united and resilient people.

Mdm Speaker, this year's COS saw several underlying themes coming to the fore during the debates.

Firstly, economic transformation. Members discussed at length about preparing our industries and our workforce for the future economy. This theme of transformation continues from previous Budgets, but has taken on renewed emphasis. The Committee on the Future Economy is looking ahead and studying long-term trends to chart the way forward for our economy. MOM has shared how it will help Singaporeans and industries "Adapt and Grow" and ensure our workforce remains competitive globally. The Ministry of Education (MOE) is preparing our young by expanding SkillsFuture and helping them to make better career choices. The Ministry of Trade and Industry is empowering our industries to create more value through the Industry Transformation Programme.

Secondly, we are looking at ways to harness the potential of innovation and technology. We are supporting our small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to automate, seizing new opportunities for growth, such as in robotics, leveraging productivity-boosting technology to become more manpower-lean. We are encouraging the use of new technologies to reduce labour demands in the construction sector. This use of technology extends, to non-economic sectors, too: security cameras for law enforcement; automated clearance facilities at our airports and land checkpoints, better defence technologies; digital technology to enhance access to Government information and e-services.

Thirdly, the debates reminded us that we live in an era of "troubled peace". Singapore is not immune to global terrorism and the repercussions of geopolitical instability, both near and far, such as the ISIS, the tensions in the South China Sea or the Middle East conflict. To stay on top of the evolving security threats and safeguard our sovereignty, we need to strengthen the capabilities of our Home Team and the Singapore Armed Forces, but we also need the community to be vigilant. We must continue to build a cohesive, resilient and rugged society by strengthening racial and religious harmony and through initiatives like outdoor adventure education and the Outward Bound School.

Fourthly, as we forge ahead to achieve stronger competitiveness, we must also ensure that we move together as one. This is in keeping with the spirit of our national anthem, Majulah Singapura, that we progress together as a nation. The theme of inclusivity cuts across various Ministries. We are improving our civil and criminal justice system to ensure fair access. The Ministry of Communications and Information's Smart Nation movement will be an inclusive one, encompassing the needs of the elderly and persons with special needs. MOE, too, will be enhancing support for children with special education needs. And the Ministry of Social and Family Development is embarking on the third edition of the Enabling Masterplan and more support for unwed mothers.

Finally, the challenges we face today cannot be solved by the Government alone. In this Budget, we are partnering Singaporeans across the whole-of-Government to achieve a brighter future. We are working with the community to strengthen vigilance through programmes like SG Secure. We are involving industry players to develop transformation maps for each sector, including making Smart Nation a reality.

We need parents, students and employers to join us in order to achieve holistic education with less emphasis on grades. For the Fresh Start Housing Scheme to benefit families with children, we need families to commit to stable employment, managing their finances and ensuring that their children attend school regularly. MOH's dementia-friendly communities will activate community volunteers to be trained and help look out for persons with dementia.

Mdm Speaker, after nine intensive days of debates, we have finally come to the end of the Budget debate for Financial Year 2016. This was the first Budget and COS for the 13th Parliament after the 2015 General Elections. We have a total of 27 new Members of Parliament (MPs) – 19 newly elected, three new Non-Constituency MPs (NCMPs), five new Nominated MPs (NMPs). Several of them made their debut speeches over the past nine days, including the NMPs who were sworn in on the day of the Budget debate. The learning curve was steep but they have picked up very quickly the official jargons and acronyms, which, I confess, can be confusing even to multi-term MPs like me. Members in this House would agree with me that we have heard many impactful speeches, with robust and discerning arguments. They have added to the quality of our debates and enabled this House to scrutinise Budget 2016 thoroughly and holistically.

Mdm Speaker, this Budget and COS debate could not have reached such a smooth conclusion without your even-handedness. On behalf of the House, we thank you and your Deputies for so ably presiding over the sessions and holding the debate proceedings to high standards. We also wish to thank the staff of the Secretariat in Parliament for their wonderful assistance and support.

There are also people who are not present in this House that I wish to acknowledge. They are the hardworking and dedicated officers from the Ministries and agencies who have supported us in the front bench; the members of the media who have brought the debate on our policies to Singaporeans.

With this Budget passed, we are one step closer towards SG100. We have a full agenda ahead of us and much work to do. Will we still be a shiny red dot in the next 50 years? This will depend not just on this House, or the Government, but the whole of Singapore. It is a shared responsibility. The next chapter of the Singapore story will be written in partnership with Singaporeans. That is how we build a stronger, better Singapore that we can all be proud to call Home. [Applause.]

2.46 pm

Mdm Speaker: Hon Members, this year's Budget debate, with a number of firsts, is an important one. This is the first Budget of our 13th Parliament and the first Budget of our newly-minted Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat who, I must say, delivered the Budget with great panache. It is also the first Budget for our many newly-elected MPs, NCMPs and NMPs – and they have all performed well.

I say it is an important Budget for another reason. It was delivered in the 51st year of our Independence, to set the trend of change for the next 50 years by calling for transformation, a word that was echoed by both the front and back bench Members during the two-week debate.

Transform, indeed, we must if we are to stay relevant to the fast-changing economic, socio-political and security environment both locally, regionally and globally. As the Minister for Defence put it very aptly, we are now in a new normal period of "troubled peace", and, I must add, not just from the security angle alone. There will be disruptions, some pretty serious ones, as many Members noted, as we transform.

Many Members cheered the slew of industry transformation programmes for SMEs outlined in the Budget to spur the transformation of enterprises and industries through innovation. But there were also very strong calls for changes and adaptation on the part of our people and workers, too. Many Members were concerned with loss of livelihoods through skills obsolescence due to automation and strongly welcomed SkillsFuture and stronger measures to support professionals, managers and executives.

Whilst skills obsolescence was a fear previously faced by low-skill, blue-collar workers, it is now more pervasive among middle-income, white-collar workers, where the impact of job losses will be much greater and re-employment a lot tougher without effective labour market intervention.

Listening to the debate, I cannot help wondering whether there are two labour markets running in parallel. One covers the traditional sectors like cleaning, security and landscaping, jobs that will always be with us and which are still bedevilled by low wages, poor working conditions and lack of career opportunities. Running in parallel are sectors that are better able to leverage technology, such as finance, technology and fintech, that promise better pay, better careers and a brighter future. Members were rightly concerned that if we fail to transform the low-wage jobs, our society will become more fragmented as the income disparity widens.

This Budget is also special and will be remembered as one that slayed not one but two sacred cows that Members have been raising in this Chamber for a long time: the Primary School Leaving Examination grading system and extended maternity leave for unmarried mothers. It reflects a transformational shift in policy aimed at placing children at the heart of what we do, instead of focusing narrowly just on academic excellence or procreation.

Members welcomed the efforts to strengthen our social safety net through schemes, such as Silver Support, but also reminded us on the need for fiscal prudence and sustainability, a difficult balance. But supporting our seniors or the lower-income is not a zero-sum game. In helping to uplift them, we are also helping to stimulate the economy as they are also consumers. Giving them hope will not only contribute to a more humane and compassionate society but will also strengthen social cohesion, giving greater legitimacy to our economic programmes and achievements. As a Business Times article said, "Keep looking up – the economy depends on it."

I counted that in this Budget, 22 new schemes were introduced, including Trade Associations and Chambers-Collaborative Industry Projects (TAC-CIP), Human Capital Partnership (HCP), Global Trader Programme (GTD), Early Admissions Exercise (EAE), Industry Preparation for Pre-Graduates Programme (iPREP), Social Service Fellowship (SSF), Our Singapore Fund (OSF) and many more. Can you remember at least five of them, hon Members? Or at least five of the existing schemes? I must admit that I struggle quite a bit and I do not blame the public if they, too, have a hard time remembering.

I want to thank all Members for your support and cooperation in helping to bring this debate to a successful conclusion. Members did well in keeping to the time allotted to them. Some continued to make lightning speeches, much to the chagrin of our poor interpreters. I am glad that I did not have to use the guillotine on any Member during this debate. Such debates demand much serious thought and reflection from Members and I am glad that most lived up to it.

Members argued well for their pet causes with speeches peppered with facts and figures, but some spoke from their heart and touched us quite profoundly. So, Miss Chia Yong Yong, you almost made me cry with your speech!

This House may have been built from brick and mortar but not the people inside it. We reflect the pain, concerns, joy, aspirations and hopes of the ordinary people whom we represent. Our debates may not be filled with the sound and fury found in some parliaments but they are, nevertheless, of a high quality.

My only regret is that not many Singaporeans follow the debate, which is a rich source of information and provides good insights into our policies. I went on two house visits during the last two weeks, including one last night, and almost all the residents did not follow the debate. This is our challenge. How to motivate and empower people to be more interested in what is going on so that they can make informed choices and better decisions for themselves?

All said and done, the challenge now is how to help people navigate this period of disruption and transformation to a better future. The schemes are there, grants provided, support given, but will that move individuals, companies and our society forward to embrace the challenges of transformation? What can we, as citizens, do for ourselves and our family to ride this period and emerge stronger? The Government can only do so much. It can act as a catalyst, it can prod, nudge, persuade and influence, but, beyond that, it really depends on all of us how fast we want to run and how much of that rainbow we want to catch.

On that note, please allow me to thank the Leader of the House and the Whip and their respective Deputies for their assistance in ensuring a smooth Budget debate. I also wish to thank my two able Deputies Mr Charles Chong and Mr Lim Biow Chuan for their support. Further, I wish to thank the Clerk of Parliament, her Deputy and assistant clerks, reporters, interpreters and the many staff working in the background for their commitment and diligence in carrying out their various duties. Finally, once again, I thank all Members for your active participation in this debate. Now, hon Members, I think I should guillotine myself. [Applause.]