Hustings: St Saviour No 1

SECRET voting for the Chief Minister, lavish consultancy fees and reverting to committee-style government were issues raised at last night’s hustings in St Saviour No 1.
With just two seats available, Deputy Rob Duhamel, Jeremy Maçon, Tony Nightingale and Deputy Celia Scott Warren, were quizzed by around 70 parishioners at Plat Douet School who asked a total of 16 questions.
Nick Pitman asked what the candidates thought about paying UK consultants when there were local experts who could offer advice.
Deputy Scott Warren said that departments should not employ consultants for the sake of it. ‘Sometimes we do need to bring in experts, but when we have local experts we should use them,’ she said.

Mr Nightingale added that the answers could not always be found locally but people should only be brought in if they needed to be.
Mr Maçon said that the States would save a lot of money by asking Islanders what they wanted. ‘Sometimes outside opinions don’t solve problems in Jersey,’ he said.
Deputy Duhamel said that it was an issue that needed to be looked at. ‘If experts are in the Island, let’s use them.’
Steven Aubignac asked whether the candidates thought that the voting for Chief Minister should be in secret.
Not mature

Mr Maçon said that voting for the ‘face of Jersey’ should be open. ‘If people are not prepared to allow the electorate to know how they voted, perhaps they shouldn’t be standing,’ he said.
Deputy Duhamel agreed that the voting should be open but added that a number of States Members were not mature enough to accept the outcome. ‘A lot of noses would be put out of joint by showing how people voted,’ he said.
Deputy Scott Warren disagreed and said that the vote should be secret so that voters were not intimidated. ‘You should vote for the person you think is the best candidate, not the one who has put pressure on you,’ she said, adding that the vote for Chief Minister should be cast by States Members and not the public. ‘Members know the strengths and weaknesses of other Members and they can judge whether or not they can do the job well.’

Mr Nightingale said that the votes should be open so that ‘everybody can see who has voted for whom’.
Cliff Robins asked whether the candidates would like to revert to the old committee system.
Deputy Duhamel said that he would like government to be somewhere in between committee and ministerial.
Deputy Scott Warren said that while the ministerial system could be improved, she would not go back to the old style of government.
Mr Nightingale said that he had not liked the length of time it took to make a decision with the committee system.

Mr Maçon said that he would go back to the old system because currently too few people had too much power.
Peter d’Orleans asked how the parish bus service could be improved.
Deputy Duhamel said that he was worried that requests would ‘fall on deaf ears’. ‘The current Transport Minister, who organised the bus contract on our behalf, has already renewed the contract, stopping us from making changes,’ he said, suggesting that it was important to elect a new Transport Minister. ‘I hope that the new one will be more sympathetic to delivering a bus service according to the wishes and needs of the people.’
Deputy Scott Warren agreed that the bus service should exist to give the public what they want. ‘I would support a better bus service,’ she said.
Mr Nightingale said: ‘If some of the money thrown away on frivolous projects could be invested in a bus service, that would help the community.’
Mr Maçon said that he had been ‘dismayed’ to hear that Connex’s contract was going to be renewed without going out to tender. ‘It’s not just our parish,’ he said. ‘Throughout the Island there are issues with the bus service.’ (from thisisjersey)