December 4, 2024

2024/25 SESSION
of the
BERMUDA SENATE
OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT
4 DECEMBER 2024
Sitting number 3 of the 2024/2025 Session
(pages 45–68)
Sen. The Hon. Joan E. Dillas-Wright, MBE, JP
President
Disclaimer: The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for
informational purposes only. The printed version remains the official
record.

Official Hansard Report 4 December 2024 45

Bermuda Senate BERMUDA SENATE
OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT
4 DECEMBER 2024
10:0 2 AM
Sitting Number 3 of the 202 4/2025 Session


[Sen. the Hon. Joan E. Dillas -Wright , President , presid-
ing]

The President: Good morning, Senator s.
The Senate is in session.
Shall we pray?

PRAYERS
[Prayers read by Sen. the Hon. Joan E. Dillas -Wright ,
President ]

The President: Please be seated.

CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES
[Minutes of 27 November 2024]

The President: Vice President Kiernan Bell, you have
the floor .

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Minutes of
the meeting of Wednesday, the 27th of November 2024 ,
be taken as read.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Sen. Kiernan Bell: Madam President, I move that the
Minutes of Wednesday —

The President: Hold on. Pardon. Somebody has an
objection.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes. Sorry, Madam President.
The President: Senator Tucker, yes.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you. Good morning.
I simply just wanted to point out a typo in the
first paragraph of Senator Johnson’s name. That is all.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Duly noted.
Carry on.

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Madam President, subject to that
amendment, I move that the Minutes of Wednesday,
the 27
th of November 2024, be confirmed.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Minutes are confirmed.

[Minutes of 27 November 2024 confirmed]

The President: Thank you, Senator Kiernan Bell, Vice
President .

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR

The President: Before we move on, I would just like to
acknowledge and welcome in the Gallery the Honoura-
ble Wayne Furbert .
Welcome to you, sir.

MESSAGES

The President: Mrs. Beale.
The Assistant Clerk: There are no messages, Madam
President.
The President: Thank you.

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES
The President: There are none.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

APOLOGY
The President: Senators, I would just like to announce
that we have apologies from Senator Fubler, who is abroad on business for his firm.
The next item is the announcement of Honour-
able Owen Darrell on the closure of schools, education.
Minister Darrell, you have the floor.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident. Good morning.

The President: Good morning.

46 4 December 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate EDUCATION (CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS)
ORDER 2024

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
hereby present for the information of Senate the Edu-
cation (Closure of Schools) Order 2024 as made by the
Minister responsible for Education in exercise of the power conferred by section 6 of the Education Act
1996.
And Senators may access copies of the Order
on their tablets and/or the parliamentary website.

The President: Thank you, Minister. And you have
other announcements; you can continue.

EDUCATION (PRIMARY SCHOOLS)
(IMPLEMENTATION OF REFORMS) ORDER 2024
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
Madam President, I hereby present for the in-
formation of the Senate the Education (Primary
Schools) (Implementation of Reforms) Order 2024 as
made by the Minister responsible for Education in ex-
ercise of the power conferred by section 5 of the Edu-cation (Primary Schools) Temporary Act 2023.
Again, Madam President, Senators may ac-
cess copies of the Order on their tablets and/or the par-liamentary website.
The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell. And you
may continue with your next announcement.

BERMUDA COLLEGE AUDITED FINANCIAL
STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED
31 MARCH 2024
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
hereby present for the information of Senate the Ber-
muda College Audited Financial Statement for the y ear
ended 31 March 2024.
And Senators may access copies of the s tate-
ment on their tablets and/or the parliamentary website.
The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
I think the next announcement is in the name
of Senator the Honourable Owen Darrell again. The last announcement.

REPORT OF THE JOINT WORLD HERITAGE
CENTRE/ICOMOS ADVISORY MISSION TO
THE HISTORIC TOWN OF ST. GEORGE’S AND
RELATED FORTIFICATIONS, BERMUDA
(UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN
AND NORTHERN IRELAND)
25–28 MARCH 2024

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident. I hereby present for the information of Senate
the Report of the Joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS
Advisory Mission to the Historic Town of St. George’s and Related Fortifications, Bermuda (United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) [ 25–28 March
2024 ].
Madam President, Senators may access cop-
ies of the report on their tablets and/or parliamentary
website.
The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
Moving on with our agenda.

NOTICE S OF MOTION S
The President: The first motion is also in the name of
Minister Darrell. And that is the Tourism Investment
[draft Order] .

TOURISM INVESTMENT
(ROSEDON HOTEL) ORDER 2024

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
I hereby present for the consideration of Sen-
ate the Tourism Investment (Rosedon Hotel) Order
2024 , proposed to be made by the Minister responsible
for Tourism under section 3 of the Tourism Investment
Act 2017, together with the written agreement of the Minister of Finance in exercise of the power conferred
by section 5 of the Tourism Investment Act 2017. And I
give notice that at a later point in the meeting, I will
move that said draft Order be approved.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
We can move on, yes, to your second.

TOURISM INVESTMENT
(SWAN PYROTECHNICS LIMITED) ORDER 2024
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
I hereby present for the consideration of the
Senate the Tourism Investment (Swan Pyrotechnics
Limited) Order 2024, proposed to be made by the Min-
ister responsible for Tourism under section 3 of the
Tourism Investment Act 2017, together with the written
agreement of the Minister of Finance in exercise of the power conferred by section 5 of the Tourism Invest-
ment Act 2017. And I give notice that at a later point in
the meeting, I will move that said draft Order be ap-
proved.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
Moving on to the next item.

PETITIONS

The President: There are none.
Official Hansard Report 4 December 2024 47

Bermuda Senate STATEMENTS

The President: There are none.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

The President: There are none.

FIRST READING OF PUBLIC BILLS

BILLS

FIRST READING

PAYROLL TAX AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2024
(GOVERNOR’S RECOMMENDATION SIGNIFIED)

CONTRIBUTORY PENSIONS (AMENDMENT OF
BENEFITS AND VALIDATION) ACT 2024

PUBLIC ACCESS TO INFORMATION
AMENDMENT ACT 2024
The President: The following Public Bills have been
received from the Honourable House of Assembly and
are now read for the first time: Their titles are, respec-
tively, the Payroll Tax Amendment (No. 2) Act 2024
(Governor’s recommendation signified) ; the Contribu-
tory Pensions (Amendment of Benefits and Validation)
Act 2024; and the last is the Public Access to Infor-
mation Amendment Act 2024.
And, Senators, I have been advised that that
particular item will not be raised today. We will be car-
rying it over.

FIRST READING OF PRIVATE BILLS

The President: There are none.

QUESTION PERIOD

The President: There are no questions to be raised to-
day.

ORDERS OF THE DAY
The President: The first Order of the Day is the con-
sideration of the tourism Investment (Rosedon Hotel) Order 2024.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR
The President: And before the Minister presents his
[draft Order], I would just like to acknowledge the presence of Pandora Glasford, the Permanent Secre-
tary for the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports .
Welcome to you.
The President: Minister, when you are ready, you can
proceed.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 71(2)

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President,
Thank you very much.
Madam President, I move that Standing Order
71(2) be suspended so that the Senate may now pro-
ceed with the consideration of the Tourism Investment
(Rosedon Hotel) Order 2024.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

[Motion carried: Standing Order 71(2) suspended.)
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that Senate do now take under consideration the
Tourism Investment (Rosedon Hotel) Order 2024, pro-
posed to be made by the Minister responsible for Tour-
ism under section 3 of the Tourism Investment Act 2017, together with written agreement of the Minister of
Finance in exercise of the power conferred by section
5 of the Tourism Investment Act 2017.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

DRAFT ORDER

TOURISM INVESTMENT
(ROSEDON HOTEL) ORDER 2024
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
Madam President, the purpose of bringing this
Tourism Investment (Rosedon Hotel) Order 2024 be-
fore the Senate is to enable the grant of tourism invest-
ment relief to the developers of the tourism product, the Rosedon Hotel , which is in the national economic inter-
est of Bermuda.
Madam President, I am pleased to invite this
Honourable Senate to take this [ draft] Order under con-
sideration . Madam President, the application for a
Tourism Investment Order was submitted by Rosedon Limited, the developer, in respect to the renovation of
the Rosedon Hotel, located on 61 Pit ts Bay Road, Pem-
broke, Hamilton. The joint stock company called
Rosedon Limited was incorporated by an Act of the
Legislature in 19 58, namely , the Rosedon Company
Act 1958.
Madam President, the Rosedon was pur-
chased from the Brown estate by Geo ffrey Kitson, JP,
RN, OBE, and his wife Elizabeth “Betty” Kitson, MBE ,
48 4 December 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate in 1954. The home was first opened as a small bed and
breakfast, and it was operated as such, Madam Presi-
dent. A small pool was built in the back garden area
along with 15 guest rooms. The basement of the main house was converted into housekeeping. The main kitchen was used to serve breakfast and traditional tea
to their guests.
Madam President, the hotel is now owned and
operated by Scott Kitson, the grandson of Geoffrey and
Betty. Madam President, over the last seven years, the
Kitson family has invested millions of dollars into the hotel property. Between 2017 and 2023, the main
house was extensively renovated in tandem with the in-
troduction of the renowned Huckleberry [Brasserie] r es-
taurant. A state -of-the-art kitchen was installed, and up-
grades were made to Beau’s Bar in the front veranda.
The upper floor was converted into a large, elegant
events space named the Crystal Room. The pool area
was renovated to include a 40- foot covered pergola, a
private cabana and new pool furniture.
Madam President, upgrades to the hotel con-
tinued between 2018 and 2023. During this time the
gardens originally designed by Betty Kitson were rede-
signed into several outdoor, tiered living rooms by fam-
ily members Lee, Judy and Scott. In support of the farm- to-table practice of Rosedon Hotel , the gardens
feature Bermuda banana trees, citrus trees and birds of paradise, to name a few. Madam President, following a
two-year closure due to COVID -19, the hotel reopened
in November 2022 with 10 rooms. A full reopening was held in February of 2023.
Madam President, Rosedon Limited plans to
fully renovate all 27 bedrooms and to develop new food
and beverage options to include Clarabell’s, a pizz eria
on the front lawn and poolside. You like that, right?

[Laughter]

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: You like that.
A bar to host events around the pool , and
Scott’s, a fine dining restaurant will be open to run
alongside Huckleberry, the all -day Brasserie restau-
rant.
Madam President, the schedule of renova-
tions , estimated to cost between $2 million and $3 mil-
lion, began in August 2024 and will be completed in the
winter of 2025/26. Madam President, the Rosedon Ho-
tel currently employs 50 people, 54 per cent of whom
are Bermudian. The employment projection for 2025 is
75, and for 2026 and beyond, 90 employees, 70 per
cent of whom must be Bermudian.
Madam President, Rosedon Hotel has estab-
lished timelines by which employees of the hotel will be promoted. These timelines include but are not limited
to the following: from kitchen porter to chef within one
year; from server to captain within two years; from
housekeeping supervisor to head housekeeper within
three years. Madam President, in addition to several
training programmes, Rosedon Limited has introduced flexible working hours for its employees and will allo-
cate $25,000 toward external training programmes to
all managers.
Madam President, Senators will note that the
Rosedon Hotel has been awarded the following terms of relief allow ed by the legislation:
• full relief from customs duty for 15 years from
the operative date of the Order;
• full relief from hotel occupancy tax for 15 years
from the hotel’s opening date;
• full relief from the employee’s share of payroll
tax for 15 years from the hotel’s opening date;
and
• full exemption from land tax for 10 years start-ing from the sixth anniversary of the hotel’s
opening date.
Madam President, Senators will note that ex-
emption from land tax is subject to the hotel’s confirm-ing in years six through eleven that 70 per cent of the
hotel staff must be Bermudian. Further, Madam Presi-
dent, exemption from the employer’s share of the pay-
roll tax is subject to [the condition that] management
training programmes for Bermudians, verified by the
Department of Workforce Development, is in operation
at the hotel. Madam President, the aforementioned ren-
ovation schedule of the Rosedon Hotel is a testament
to the confidence that the Kitson family has in the hos-
pitality industry here in Bermuda. The employment,
training and promotion of Bermudians at this property stands as a shining example for other hotel proper ties.
Indeed, it serves as a beacon to potential investors looking t o participate in our local product.
Madam President, I am pleased to commend
this [draft] Order for support for this Honourable Sen-
ate.
Thank you, Madam President.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

APOLOGY
The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
And, Senators, before I open the floor to you
all, I just want to announce that I have just been advised
that OBA Senator Dr. Douglas De Couto is away on
business and therefore is not with us this morning.

ORDERS OF THE DAY

DRAFT ORDER

TOURISM INVESTMENT
(ROSEDON HOTEL) ORDER 2024
[Continuation thereof]
The President: Back to the [draft Order] now.
Official Hansard Report 4 December 2024 49

Bermuda Senate Would any Senator care to speak?
Senator Dwayne Robinson, you have the floor.

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent. And it is always good to start off the speech with
the OBA’s support. We do support this investment O r-
der, and we support anything that will stimulate the
economy and support the growth of our tourism prod-
uct.
[Inaudible interjections and laughter]

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: It is on record; it is on record.
And we also do especially encourage the man-
agement training aspect of this particular [draft] Order
(and the Orders that have preceded it) and think that it
is an excellent way to entice Bermudians to return into hospitality and see it as a potential career path.
So naturally, we do have concerns about the
full 15 -year concessions granted and would just invite
the Minister to provide a bit more clarity as to the full 15
being granted. We had stated that this may become the
norm, and it does put extra strain on government cof-
fers and government income. So naturally, we just want
to hear just a little bit more about that.
There is also just a brief concern with the open-
ing of the Fairmont, which we all celebrate and are all
happy about, that that is on record as well. You may have a bit of a battle for workers, right, especially locals
and Bermudians who will now have a massive hotel to
work in. So , this 70 per cent hotel staff who are Bermu-
dian, I agree with. But I just want to hear a little bit from
the Minister as to how we may entice more Bermudians to get involved and the Government’s plans to make sure that every hotel can meet that 70 per cent Bermu-
dian threshold with the opening of Fairmont Southamp-ton.
So, with that, we support this [draft Order] and
congratulate the Minister on his investment Order.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this?
Senator Tucker, OBA Leader in the Senator,
you have the floor.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I was not going to speak. I actually just have a
question because the promotion timelines and all that was talked about in terms of the training. A nd particu-
larly that promotion timeline I think is fantastic. I think
that it would be great if that could also be part of any
future Orders, you know, any future pieces of legisla-
tion that are coming through, similar. And that obviously
will ensure that B ermudians are not overlooked and
that they are trained and promoted through the ranks
as well because of that commitment. My question is, When does the annual report-
ing period actually commence? So that is the only question I have.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President. I will
not add anything other than what my colleagues have
already expressed, but I support this [draft Order] as
well.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Wight.
Vice President Kiernan Bell, you have the floor.

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
Just to say yes, I do support the [draft Order].
My only question mark remains around the
70 per cent Bermudian employee requirement and
whether or not the hotelier will able to establish , if it is
unable to meet that criteria, has it done everything it
reasonably can to meet it?
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Vice President Kiernan
Bell.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
[draft Order]?
Hearing none, back to you, Minister Darrell.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you. Thank you to
the Senators from across the aisle as well as the I nde-
pendent Senators for their support of this. I think we all understand how important this is, as we know the Ber-
muda Government’s responsibility is to seek further ho-
tel investment.

The President: Mm-hmm.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: And I would be remiss if
I did not sit here, and everybody can see, the challenge
that we have had with getting new hotels up and run-ning. And some of that is due to global costs. And ob-
viously when you are investing in a product of this mag-
nitude, individuals who are investing are looking for re-
turns. So, with the reopening of Fairmont Southampton,
I think it is well documented, even when we brought this Tourism Investment Act into place in 2017, the eco-
nomic benefit that invest ment in the tourism product
and investing in hotels will have on the entire country.
We talk now even locally, outside of tourism,
but locally as far as flights coming to Bermuda, they are so expensive because there are so few of them. And
the reason there are so few flights is because there are
a limited number of beds in Bermuda. So that alone has
a knock -on effect to locals and their everyday lives.
50 4 December 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate There are individuals who are choosing not to go into
hospitality because the hours and the time that they are
going to be able to work fluctuate based on the availa-
bility of tourists at certain hotels. So, if we are investing
in this . . . and that is why it is important.
I know the Senator asked about 15 years and
why 15? And it has been documented when we dis-cussed this in other times. We are competing globally
with getting the attention of hotel investors worldwide.
And I know we are here to debate matters relating to
Bermuda. But when I travel to C TO [Caribbean Tourism
Organization] conferences and I meet with other Minis-
ters of Tourism around the Caribbean, it is competitive.
And investors will choose to go to other jurisdictions that are offering, you know, 25- 20-year concessions
for hotels to be built. Because they see the value that
this will bring in their overall economic impact for their country.
So, this is something that the Government has
stood by. It is something that the Government will con-tinue to stand by. And as we have seen, with these
come . . . there are hotel developments that are hap-
pening. There are very large- scale renovations that are
happening. There are multiple hotels , and we have
come here and we have named them, that are taking this relief and they are putting it to good use. And you
see Bermudians who are moving back into the hospi-
tality industry.
One of the questions and concerns was about
the 70 per cent employment. And it was a good point
made by the Senator regarding, once you do have more hotels, you are going to get more competitive
amongst the hoteliers for local workers. And let us start
with this. I mean, if you are a hard- working Bermudian
in the hotel industry, you will get noticed. I do not have
his last name, but I think most people know him, the
young man whom I had the opportunity to teach many, many years ago. His name is Gary. Gary has been
working in the hospitality industry up in Fairmont South-ampton for years. And even throughout its closure, he
was able to adapt and move and work in different areas
of the hotel, the restaurant that is still open up there and
the like.
So that bodes well for Bermudians like Gary
who are looking to make a career out of it. And people will be bidding for the top talent in Bermuda. But what
that also means is that there are opportunities for Ber-
mudians to get into hospitality once again. Co ming next
year, if you have been following the education reform, I
know a lot of people like all of the theatrics that come with it. But if you really are focusing on the plans and
what is going on, there is a Signature School opening
that will focus on hospitality management this next
coming school year. And that is up at Sandys. And that answers the question as to what this Government is do-
ing to bring along young people and show them that
hospitality is once again going to be a viable option for
. . . and I will say this. My son . . . I talk about my grand-
parents, how they made their living, all of them, in the hospitality industry, whether it was my grandfather who
was a bartender, whether it was my grandmother who
was a chamber maid at one time and many of her sis-
ters. Whether it be my other grandmother who was a
taxi driver, whether it be my grandfather on my mom’s
side who opened a restaurant. That was how they
made their living in this country. And it bodes very well
for the signatures that are opening up.
Also, I have to give a shout -out to the Bermuda
Tourism Authority. The Bermuda Tourism Authority , if
you have seen, has been advertising their Anchor [BDA]
programme. Their Anchor BDA programme gets into
the community and gets people trained up as to what it
would look like to be in the hospitality industry. And
once you get that basic knowledge, you can then get
into deeper courses to specialise in wherever you want
to go. I have had the opportunity to partner along with
the Bermuda Tourism Authority in schools to speak to
middle school students about the importance of hospi-
tality.
And in years gone by, the Director of Workforce
Development —a little shout -out to her , Ms. Malika
Cartwright —spent her time at the Bermuda Hospitality
Institute of which I was a volunteer, where we used to
go into schools. And we use d to have a curriculum done
by Ms. Karen Edwards (at the time) to teach primary
school and middle school students the vast array and variety of jobs that are in there. So, once we open the
signature and we get back to these programmes, I think
once again tourism in Bermuda will be a viable option
for young people. And I do not think that these hotels,
which are mandated to find 70 per cent locals , will have
problems. I do not think that they will have problems
finding local talent to go back into the hospitality work-
force.
So, I think the question was, When does the
annual reporting period commence? I do not have an answer on that, but I can seek to get that and provide it
at a later time, Madam President. This hotel has a great
relationship with Government. And they will inform us if
they are having difficulty meeting their goals. And their
investment in training is testament to their efforts to
achieve these targets. So, it is not just something that
these hotels are doing to tick the box. It is something that actually impr oves their product. When you see Ber-
mudians working and you get that people feel . . . Be-
cause if you do any survey about tourism in this coun-
try, they will tell you that the number -one feature of Ber-
muda is its people and the culture that comes with it.
So, Madam President, I hope I have answered
most of the questions. I do once again appreciate the
support. And I know the Kitsons and the principals over
at the Rosedon are very eager, as are most hotels, for this process to be behind them so that they can then
fully invest in improving the hotel product. And I know
. . . not to get into our next debate, but i t touches on the
Tourism Investment Act as well and to show what we are doing and how serious we are about tourism in this
country.
Official Hansard Report 4 December 2024 51

Bermuda Senate Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
Yes, Senator Tucker, you have—
Sen. Robin Tucker: —May I ask?

The President: —a follow -up question?
Sen. Robin Tucker : Yes, please. Thank you to the
Minister for his response.
I guess what I really want to touch on is the fact
that there is quite some confidence that was sort of pro-moted that the hotels will be able to find the 70 per cent
of Bermudian employees. And while I think that the Sig-nature School for Hospitality is great, that is also a little
way down the road. They have got to get through school. Then they have got to be introduced to the
workplace and all of those types of things. So, I just
wondered whether there were any other types of initia-
tives that the Ministry was looking at to help to promote
hospitality to Bermudians to try to make sure that the
hospitality industry is adequately staffed (I will say)?
And I say that from my own personal experi-
ence. I spent five years of HR [Human Resources] at
Mid Ocean. So, I know how difficult it is to actually at-
tract Bermudians to the hospitality industry. And cer-
tainly not just attracting them but retaining them. S o, my
question is, Is anything else being done? I mean, are
there plans for more hospitality fairs? Are there plans
for more going out in the community and promoting hospitality in a more (I do not want to say aggressive,
but for lack of a better term, a more aggressive) type of a way? Because once upon a time, that was a very at-tractive employment opportunity. But obviously things
have shifted over the years.
And that is why the question that I asked about
that reporting period is important. And Senator Bell had
asked if the hoteliers are unable to meet that require-
ment, is there going to be any sort of update as to why
that is? It is important, obviously to everybody in the
room, that Bermudians are able to find employment
and to make sure that we are able to promote our tour-
ism product. I wondered because that is a very im-portant piece, obviously, staffing the hotels.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.
Minister, yes, it is over to you.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
I thought that I mentioned the very close rela-
tionship of the Director of Workforce Development, Ms.
Malika Cartright, and the work that Workforce Develop-
ment is also doing. And Workforce Development are dealing with adults in the community who are seeking
employment. They are seeking training to get them-
selves in a better position for employment. And they are doing a lot of great work. You know, as I know Senator
Tucker does some canvassing, when people come
looking for jobs, I know she sends them to Workf orce
Development, as we all should.
And I had a very nice message from a young
man the other day who said to me, Thank you very
much for connecting me with Workforce Development.
They were able to assist him. They were able to
sharpen some of his skills. And he is confident that he
is able to get back into the workforce. So that was an
example that I think I did mention. I think I mentioned the Anchor[BDA] programme as well that is being run
by the Bermuda Tourism Authority.
And I know the Senator knows quite well that
many of the human resource managers in these hotels
. . . There is a young lady, and I am getting her name
right now, but she is doing quite well down at the St. Regis. (Her name begins with an M. That is as far as I
got right now.)

[Inaudible interjections ]
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you. Misha, yes .
Thank you.
That young lady is doing quite well. The last
time I was down at St. Regis earlier in the year, she was
organising a career fair. And it was larger than she had expected. So, they are still having these. Workforce
Development is still doing stuff. So, we are confident
that we are getting Bermudians trained to go into what
has proven to be in recent years a difficult industry.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Minister.
With no further questions, you can move your
[draft Order].

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
Madam President, I move that the said draft
Order be approved and that the following message be sent to Her Excellency the Governor:
May it please Your Excellency:
The Senate, having had under consideration
the draft Order entitled the Tourism Investment
(Rosedon Hotel) Order 2024, as made by the Minister
responsible for Tourism under section 3 of the Tourism
Investment Act 2017, together with the written agree-
ment of the Minister of Finance in exercise of the power
conferred by section 5 of the Tourism Investment Act
2017, has the honour to inform Your Excellency that the
Senate has approved the said draft Order.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister.
[There is] no objection to the message being
sent.

52 4 December 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate [Motion carried: The Tourism Investment (Rosedon Ho-
tel) Order 2024 was approved.]
The President: Thank you, Senators, for your partici-
pation in that.
Moving on, the second Order of the Day is the
consideration of the Tourism Investment (Swan Pyro-technics Limited) Order 2024, and that is also in the
name of the Honourable Owen Darrell, Minister of
Tourism, Culture and Sport.
Minister, when you are ready you can present
your [draft Order].

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 71(2)
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, thank
you.
I move that Standing Order 71(2) be sus-
pended so the Senate may now proceed with the con-sideration of the Tourism Investment (Swan Pyrotech-
nics Limited) Order 2024.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

[Motion carried: Standing Order 71(2) suspended.]
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that the Senate do now take under consideration
the Tourism Investment (Swan Pyrotechnics Limited)
Order 2024, proposed to be made by the Minister re-sponsible for Tourism under section 3 of the Tourism
Investment Act 2017, together with the written agree-
ment of the Minister of Finance in exercise of the power
conferred by section 5 of the Tourism Investment Act
2017.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

DRAFT ORDER

TOURISM INVESTMENT (SWAN PYROTECHNICS
LIMITED) ORDER 2024
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, the
purpose of bringing this Tourism Investment (Swan Py-
rotechnics Limited) Order 2024 before the Senate is to
enable the grant of customs duty relief to the operators of Swan Pyrotechnics Limited, a Bermuda- incorporated
company that prov ides pyrotechnic displays at local
and tourism events. Swan Pyrotechnics Limited was deemed to be a tourism project that is in the national
economic interest of Bermuda by the Minister respon-
sible for Tourism and agreed in writing by the Minister of Finance under the Tourism Investment Act 2017.
Madam President, I am pleased to invite Senators to
take this draft Order under consideration. Madam President, the application for a Tour-
ism Investment Order was submitted by Swan Pyro-
technics Limited, which is described as a tourist attrac-
tion. Madam President, Swan Pyrotechnics Limited is a
professional entertainment company specialising in
safe and high- quality pyrotechnic displays for local and
tourism events. Swan Pyrotechnics Limited is owned
and managed by Mr. Kyle Swan and was incorporat ed
on March 6, 2019. Madam President, Swan Pyrotech-
nics Limited’s services range from traditional firework s
displays (as we saw on Sunday evening) to pyromusi-
cals, which incorporate special effects, close proximity
effects and advanced pyrotechnic features.
Kyle Swan brings a safety -minded and sensi-
ble approach to Swan Pyrotechnics Limited’s opera-
tions. He has invested in the top- of-the-line industry -
leading equipment, which guarantees the safest possi-
ble application of fireworks in any setting. An environ-
mentally conscious approach includes a series of tech-
niques and methods which vastly limit the environmen-
tal impact of the displays.
Madam President, additionally, Swan Pyro-
technics Limited has created memorable experiences
for organisations, including the Bermuda Hotel Associ-
ation, the Corporations of Hamilton and St. George’s,
and events such as the Christmas and Boat parades,
Harbour Nights and the annual Heritage Day Parade.
Madam President, Swan Pyrotechnics Limited
projects that the Bermuda market will provide sufficient
opportunity for between 10 to 15 shows annually,
charging a minimum of $3,500 per minute. Madam
President, Senators will note that Swan Pyrotechnics
Limited is seeking to be granted full relief from customs
duty for a period not exceeding five years from the op-
erative date of the Tourism Investment Order in respect
of any equipment, goods and supplies which are nec-
essary for the operation of the tourist attraction.
Madam President, this is the first application
for a Tourism Investment Order for an attraction, an at-traction which will undoubtably continue to enhance our
tourism product here in Bermuda. I commend Mr.
Swan, a Bermudian entrepreneur, for applying to be-
come the first recipient, Madam President, of a tax con-
cession for a tourist attraction.
Madam President, I am pleased to commend
this [draft] Order for support of the Senate.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
Would any Senator care to speak on this [draft]
Order? Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent. And I have to say the Honourable Minister is on a good wicket this session.

[Laughter]

Official Hansard Report 4 December 2024 53

Bermuda Senate Sen. Dwayne Robinson: These pyrotechnics and fire-
works are something that many Bermudians have been
asking for for some time. And it is a particular thing that
many from the older generation remember fondly as
being part of our tourism tapestry. So, to see that it is now coming back I think makes a lot of us very happy.
And I think that Bermudians have also said that there is
a need for more attractions in our local tourism product,
more things for tourists to do, more things for locals to
participate in.
I think that this is a good step in the right direc-
tion to provide more attractions, to provide more things
and enhance Bermuda as a more attractive destination
for different types of tourists. Because obviously we
want to expand not just the tourism seaso n to make it
longer and hopefully year -round. But we want to pro-
vide many different recreational things for people to do. So, I think that this is a great initiative. And it has our
support.
I would like to ask the Minister if there will be
any potential for a bit of a . . . I want to say a media
campaign or a bit of a community campaign to encour-
age a [few] more attractions to come up from our locals
and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit now that this
has been made available. Well, not made available, but now that someone has taken advantage of what was
made available.
So that will probably be my only comment, and
you have our support.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dwayne Robin-
son.
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I often support Bills that provide tax relief for
hotels, and other proposals that I believe are in the best
interest of Bermuda’s economy such as the Rosedon
Hotel Order that the Senators just approved just a few
minutes ago.
I will not oppose this [draft Order], but I have a
hard time understanding how full relief is provided on
the basis of the attraction, in this case pyrotechnics, in the national economic interest of Bermuda. This seems
to be a stretch for me. I could see other like attractions
in Bermuda wondering why or if they can in future be
provided with similar relief. So again, I will not oppose
it, but I just have a hard time seeing this being in the
national economic interest of Bermuda.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator John Wight.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?
Senator Kiernan Bell, Vice President, you have
the floor.
Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President. First of all, can I say I love fireworks. So, I sup-
port this. I do support this [draft Order] but not just be-
cause I support fireworks. And I do have a question for
the Minister. The question really involves, only because
I went and had a look. And I was struggling to find it,
and maybe I just missed it. But is there any guidance
that is issued for entrepreneurs who wish to create at-
tractions in Bermuda as to how they go about it? I know
there is information about . . . And it is mostly focused
at restaurants and hotels, and businesses of that like.
But clearly the Government’s policy is to include attrac-tions to make Bermuda more attractive as a tourism
product for people to come. And I can see the public
policy benefits that go along with that.
So, the question is, How, if you are a young
entrepreneur or even an older entrepreneur in Ber-
muda and you wish to have a business which is going to invest in something which is going to be a clear tour-
ism attraction . . . For example, I can think of dive
shops, for example, who have to pay for equipment and
boats and things like that in order to cater to that and
provide that tourism product. And there is a host of oth-
ers that one can imagine. How do they realise and fol-
low this path and seek to have the benefit so that they
can remove those barriers to entry in terms of cost and
make that investment to create an attraction for Ber-
muda tourism?
So that is my question. But I do support this
[draft] Order. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Kiernan Bell, Vice
President.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
[draft Order]?
Hearing none . . . Oh, sorry.
Senator Wilkerson, Attorney General, you
have the floor.
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you very much,
Madam President.
I do want to signal my support. Clearly it is a
Government [draft Order]; we support it. But particu-larly, and I believe Senator Wight has mentioned gen-
eral support of these kinds of concessions when it is a
hotel. And it clear to see, for example a resta urant, how
that is in the national interest, so to speak. And I think
that that has been something that Bermudian entrepre-
neurs have had an issue with. And when we say, You
may be a small business against a large business, and
people might recall that prev iously, prior to Mr. Swan’s
business, when you saw a fireworks display, it would normally be something that was promoted via a hotel.
The President: Mm-hmm.
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: So, they were still get-
ting the benefit of this in the context of their being a large business. And what the Government is striving to
do here is to create some equity for smaller businesses
54 4 December 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate that also add to the tourism product. And I completely
disagree that because it is an attraction and it is fire-
works, it is not in the national interest. I think the point
is that all of these small things add together to add to a
rich experience for touri sts and for Bermudians alike
when it comes to attractions. And that is why I think this
is very, very important.
I hear the Vice President’s comment about,
how is it clear that there is a path of availability for other
entrepreneurs? And I think that is the beauty of high-
lighting this experience for Swan Pyrotechnics. It can show that this is available for other entr epreneurs and
that this Government is serious about levelling the play-
ing field and creating some equity around opportunity.
And let me say, personally I know Mr. Swan.
His mother is a friend of mine. He is professional. He is
a trained EMT. He has had lots of experience of build-ing his practice around this business and safety while
he worked and lived in the United States. And he is a
Bermudian who has chosen to come home. And we
hear in this Chamber very often about all of the Bermu-dians who go away. They build experience, and they
do not return. And he has returned. And that is why he
is a double example of what can happen whe n we sup-
port Bermudian entrepreneurs.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Attorney General Wilker-
son.
Senator Hodgson, you have indicated you
wanted to speak on this [draft Order]. You have the
floor.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Yes. Thank you, Madam
President.
I did want to speak and contribute my support.
Like Senator Bell, we are a family who loves fireworks. We are a family who loves a good holiday. We love the
opportunity to gather, not just as a family, but as a com-
munity and to celebrate our unique cultur e and herit-
age. And when I think about it, the Christmas parade and the Boat parade, fireworks is something that is part
of every one of those memories. And I know that for the
years that there was not an option to have the fireworks as part of our experience, it was something I think that
was sorely missed.
On Monday when I was rolled out, TNN’s Tre-
vor Lindsay had asked about young men and about what is there for them. And while this is not directly in-
tended to benefit young men, I think it is an example of the opportunities that do exist and the opportunities t hat
continue to [be provided to] us through this Govern-
ment. And to Senator Tucker’s point . . . no, Senator
Bell’s point. (Sorry.) I think we can see more examples
of how we can collaborate better as a Government. You
know, we are coming to the end of a f iscal year, and
that means that we have to make sure that monies that
were allocated are accounted for and have been spent
appropriately. And in many instances, we recognise that there are more opportunities to do more for our
people, whether that is supporting them directly or their
businesses and other ventures.
And so again I do support this [draft] Order.
You know, I think about the fact that it is not just about big hotel developers who should be able to take ad-
vantage of these opportunities. Every day Bermudians
should also have the know -how. I do like the idea of
making sure that persons are better informed about how to take advantage of these opportunities. And I am
sure that the Minister will start to have more of those conversations and get those wheels turning so that the
public is better informed.
Again, yes, definitely happy to lend my support.

The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
[draft Order]?
Hearing none, then, Minister Darrell, it is back
to you.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
And I would like to take this opportunity to
thank the Senators.
Senator Robinson, thank you for your com-
ments. And to that point, this is something that you are
going to see us in the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and
Sport promoting a lot more. This has been sitting in the
Tourism Investment Act for quite some time.
And to the point of Senator Bell, many individ-
uals, entrepreneurs who are currently operating have
been eligible for this since it was put in there. And they just have not taken advantage of it. You know, in having
a conversation with a young person recent ly, they took
me to task and said, Listen. The Government is doing
amazing stuff. But we don’t know about it. Where do I go to find it? And that is a conversation, as Senator
Hodgson did say, I will be taking internally. And we will be looking and saying, Well, how do we amplify this?
Because what Mr. Swan has done . . . and let
us go back. Anybody who works in multiple pieces or
levels of government has seen the correspondence
from Mr. Swan as an entrepreneur and the struggles
and difficulty that he had to go through to get his busi-ness legitimate and for people to take him seriously,
because there were so many different hurdles. And we
are happy that he has gone through the process of ap-
plying for this attraction and this Tourism Investment Order that comes under the Act, under the thi ng of at-
tractions.
And we do. We are trying to encourage more
individuals to apply for this. And I am not going to give away any entrepreneur’s ideas, but there are a lot of
individuals who come with ideas and people who have
business plans that are sitting somewhere. And they
say, Well, how do I get this off the ground? And the first
step would be to contact the Ministry of Tourism,
Official Hansard Report 4 December 2024 55

Bermuda Senate Culture and Sport. And we have a whole Regulatory
and Policy Unit that will walk you through the process.
And just like there are checks and balances
with the other Tourism Investment Orders when it
comes to hotels, [they] will walk you through the checks and the different benchmarks and approval processes.
And then you will see a success story like this. I me an,
Madam President, to see . . . I know Senator Wight was
there as well. But to see the joy on Mr. Swan’s face on
Sunday evening when he actually had the gadget there
and all of the children who were there at the parade were gathered around. And he said, Let’s . . . you press
this button. And it looks easy at that point. But the back-
story is the [number] of hours and amount of time that he put in to planning this fireworks display.
And we sit there, and everybody has it on their
Instagram, and they put it on their pictures and say, Wow, this was an amazing night! But that is the perse-
verance of what Mr. Swan has done and the Govern-
ment for making these opportunities available. And yes,
we want more! Because what people will say on the street is, Oh, here we go, the Government giving an-
other tax concession to large corporations to build ho-
tels. But it is a guy like Mr. Swan and others who can
benefit just as much.
I want to speak directly to Senator Wight’s point
as to questioning the impact that this will have from a
national importance [perspective]. One of the biggest events that the Bermuda Tourism Authority, through
funding from the Bermuda Government, invests in is
the golf tournament. The Butterfield Bermuda Champi-onship has been here now in this format I think for
seven years. And before that there was a different tour-
nament, the PGA Grand Slam. You would have noticed that this year, probably about a month ago now, a cou-
ple of weeks ago, there was a big drone display. Mr. Swan was part of that as well! And I can tell you that there are reports that are done every single year that
tell you about the economic impact of people coming to
this Island for that parti cular event. And this was in ad-
dition to that event. And to see and hear the people talk about that display!
And there is another one coming. I am not sure
if [Mr. Swan] is part of this one. But there is another one coming this weekend for the Boat parade. I think there
will be a drone display. But this is an example, and we
want to see more of this. And I will gladly accept more
and more applications for Tourism Investment Orders
under the category of attractions, Madam President. If
people are hearing, individuals are hearing this debate and saying, You know what? This is the push and this
is the assistance that I have been looking for to get my
business off the road to help boost tourism in this coun-
try.
So, Madam President, I want to say thank you
to the Senators who have put their support behind this. Thank you to the Senators who have given examples
and real -life examples of how this not only is touching
tourism but touching entrepreneurs in this countr y. So, Madam President, with that said, I say
thank you.

The President: Thank you, Minister.
You can now move your [draft Order].

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that the said draft Order be approved and that the
following message be sent to Her Excellency the Gov-
ernor:
May it please Your Excellency,
The Senate, having under consideration the
draft Order entitled the Tourism Investment (Swan Py-rotechnics Limited) Order 2024, as made by the Minis-
ter responsible for Tourism under section 3 of the Tour-
ism Investment Act 2017, together with the written
agreement of the Minister of Finance in exercise of the power conferred by section 5 of the Tourism Invest-
ment Act 2017, has the honour to inform Your Excel-
lency that the Senate has approved the said draft Or-
der.
Thank you, Senators, and thank you, Madam
President.
The President: The [message] will be sent, and thank
you, Senators, for your support.
[Motion carried: The Tourism Investment (Swan Pyro-
technics Limited) Order 2024 was approved.]

The President: Moving on with our Orders of the Day,
item number 3 [second reading of the Public Access to Information Amendment Act 2024], as I had indicated, will be carried over to our next day of meeting.
And item number 4, the second reading of the
Payroll Tax Amendment (No. 2) Act 2024 will be under-taken now. And that is in the name of Senator Arianna
Hodgson, the spokesperson for Finance.
Senator Hodgson, you have the floor.

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
Madam President , I would like to start by mov-
ing that the provisions of Standing Order 25 be granted
so that I may proceed with the second reading of the
Digital Asset Business Amendment Act . . . sorry — the
Payroll Tax Amendment (No. 2) Act 2024.
[Laughter]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Going back to last week.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

56 4 December 2024 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate [Motion carried: Leave granted for Payroll Tax Amend-
ment (No. 2) Act 2024 to be read a second time on the
same day as its first reading.]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
Then I move that the Bill entitled the Payroll
Tax Amendment (No. 2) Act 2024 be now read a sec-ond time.
The President: Is there any objection to the second
reading?
No objection.
BILL
SECOND READING
PAYROLL T AX A MENDMENT ( NO. 2 ) ACT 2 024
Sen. A rianna H odgson: Thank y ou, Ma dam Presi-
dent.
Madam President, the Bill presented today be-
fore the Senate is the Payroll Tax Amendment (No. 2)
Act 2024. The purpose of this Bill is to further harmo-
nise and modernise the public service vehicle industry.
Madam President , it is very important that we
embrace efficiency in government tax collection. In our
relentless pursuit of excellence, we must never under-
estimate the transformative power of efficiency. Espe-
cially in the realm of government tax collection, stream-
lining p rocesses can yield profound benefits for both
administrators and taxpayers alike.
When we simplify and modernise our tax sys-
tem, we create an environment that actually fosters
transparency and fairness. By reducing complexity and
eliminating unnecessary obstacles, we make it easier
for individuals and businesses to comply with tax regu-
lations, ultimately enhancing voluntary compliance.
The introduction of clear tiered structures and
fixed tax rates is a shining example of how thoughtful
reforms can lead to significant improvements. These
measures not only reduce the administrative burden on
taxpayers, but also allow our Government to allocate
resources more effectively, ensuring that public ser-
vices are well -funded and robust.
Madam President , this is what this Bill does.
The Bill introduces a new payroll tax system specifically
for minibus owners. This revised system will feature a
fixed payroll tax structure organised into three tiers
based on the seating capacity of the minibus itself.
Under this new framework, owners will no
longer be required to engage in complex calculations
or reconciliations to determine their payroll tax liability.
Also to streamline processes for the owners, the pay-
ment of the tax can be made simultaneously during the
minibus licensing period.
The new system is structured as follows: •Tier 1: Minibuses with a seating capacity of up
to 15 passengers would incur an annual payroll
tax of $750.
•Tier 2: Minibuses with a seating capacity be-
tween 16 and 24 passengers will incur an an-
nual payroll tax of $1,000.
•Tier 3: Minibuses with a seating capacity of
more than 24 passengers will incur an annual
payroll tax of $1,500.
All for a total of an approximate $221,500 to be col-lected in revenue as compared to an approximate
$35,000, Madam President.
The introduction of this simplified payroll tax
system represents a step forward in improving the effi-
ciency and harmonisation of the tax process within the public service vehicle sector. By establishing a clear tiered structure based on seating capacity, the system
removes the need for calculations, thereby facilitating easier compliance with tax regulations for minibus own-ers. This change not only brings tangible benefits to the operators by simplifying their tax obligation, but it also enhances the overall transparency within the industry.
The tiered approach ensures that the tax re-
quirement is equitably distributed in line with the size of the vehicle, contributing to a more streamlined and ef-ficient public service vehicle sector. This move will un-doubtedly create greater compliance and provide clar-ity for owners whilst we continue to facilitate a more or-
derly and transparent operating environment across
the industry.
Madam President , since we will be charging
minibus payroll tax based on seats, we thought it was fair to review what taxi drivers paid, as they also had seat capacity. Madam President, under the previous
One Bermuda Alliance Administration, taxi owners
faced an average annual payroll tax of $3,000. In 2019,
the Progressive Labour Party took decisive action re-ducing this tax burden to $1,000 per year. Now we have taken it a step further by reducing the payroll tax for taxi drivers from $1,000 to $600, representing an additi onal
$400 reduction. Madam President , it is an 80 per cent
reduction in payroll tax that taxi drivers will have to pay.
Madam President , this reduction is designed to
ease the financial burden on taxi operators and to help create a more balanced and equitable structure within
the industry. This comprehensive approach not only im-
proves the operational efficiency of the sector, but also generates a more inclusive and supportive environ-ment for all operators. Ultimately it contributes to the overall enhancement of the public service vehicle in-dustry.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Dwayne Robinson, OBA, you have the
floor.
Official Hansard Report 4 December 2024 57

Bermuda Senate Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent. And the Opposition does support any sort of tax
relief or tax reform that not only lowers taxes for an en-
trepreneur such as a taxi operator, but also creates a
tax regime for the minibuses.
My question is just along the lines of consulta-
tion. There has been a public strain of a relationship
between the BTOA [Bermuda Taxi Owners and Opera-
tors Association] and the Government. And I just
wanted to ask if they were consulted with this particular
legislation, because it is a step in the right direction. I
am sure taxi drivers will welcome a relief to their payroll
tax. However, there have been mentioned other ways
that this particular tax could be amended to service the
industry a bit more. And I will not proceed anything or
speak on behalf of an entire industry. But I do believe that it would be wise for Government to consult and speak with the BTOA as to how some of their recom-
mendations that they have made public can be imple-
mented to make this system (and transport as a whole)
better.
With this Bill obviously not being under
Transport, I would not expect the Junior Minister to
weigh in on it. But I think that they intertwine in a way.
So, I also would like to ask what . . . is this one of the
steps taken to repair that relationship wit h the BTOA?
Because my concern is that we see a lot of things hap-pening in tourism. And this is a good thing for the Is-land. And our tourism product is experiencing a boost
when it comes to the potential openings and the invest-
ments that we see. So, it is very crucial for us to have a transport system for tourists that really works.
So, it is a question of parity here as well. Be-
cause you have up to 15 seats for a minibus, and that is only 150 more than a taxi, right? It is just little things
to make sure that you are providing equal opportunity for all of the entrepreneurs involved and not skewing in
any way. So, I just would like to hear if any consultation
was done on this particular Bill, and if anything is com-
ing preceding it that will include some recommenda-
tions from the BTOA.
I would like to just also hear a little bit from the
Junior Minister on some of the data that were consulted
or used to determine that this was the best method to go, as far as the tiers and the particular amounts that
are taxed when in comparison to taxi drivers. And also
whether or not there are adequate and efficient TCD
[Transport Control Department] data available and
whether that system is being properly managed, which
would be able to inform Government on the comings and the goings of the transport system —taxi drivers
and minibuses —and whether or not that was used to
inform this particular decision.
And the reason I am asking these particular
questions is because there is a sentiment that has been stated publicly by some, and also by the BTOA and oth-ers in the industry, that this is an election season. And
we have to be honest that it could potential ly be per-
ceived as a way to somewhat win back that particular industry without doing the actual groundwork to really address and implement some of their concerns that
they have to effectively enhance their industry and
modernise it for the coming times. So, I just want to be
sure and give the Junior Minister the opportunity to dis-suade that particular idea by letting us know about the
going- forward, the collaboration between the BTOA
and the industry as a whole.
So, with that, I look forward to hearing the an-
swers. And we support this Bill.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Would any Senator —
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I fully support this Bill. I think it is fair and ap-
propriate. So, I am in full support for it.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you.
Senator Kiernan Bell, Vice President, you have
the floor.
Sen. Kiernan Bell: Madam President, I do have some
questions on this Bill. My starting position really is that
this is a payroll tax amendment Bill. So, it starts with,
what is a payroll tax? And in Bermuda, as we know,
payroll tax is levied on all employers, self -employed in-
dividuals and deemed employees based on remunera-
tion. So, the reason I am struggling with this a little bit
is that we are treating a certain portion of our self -em-
ployed community and some of our employee commu-
nity completely different ly if they are in the public driv-
ing, taxi driver industry. And I struggle with that be-
cause the tax system should be equitable and fair not
based on what you do but based on the revenue that is
derived from that. And we are creating this two- tiered
system .
I listened carefully to my colleague, Senator
Hodgson, when she was referring to the reasons be-hind this. And it appeared that the driver was efficiency
in tax collections. And if I look back in time to 2018 . . .
so this original difference created for t axi drivers was
effective the 1
st of April 2018, the $1,000 prepayment
(if you like) of payroll tax, which was only for taxi oper-
ators. It is not for taxi drivers. And at the time, it was
indicated that the reason for that was because such a
large portion of the taxi owner/operator/driver commu-
nity was not actually contributing to the payroll tax sys-
tem. There were only 411, I think, was the actual sta-
tistic that was recounted, if I am permitted to say, in an-
other place by the then Premier, who is the now P rem-
ier, who were paying those payroll taxes.
So, this was at the time intended to make sure
and fix that through a simplified process so that the taxi
owners and operators would pay, prepay $1,000 pay-
roll tax annually as part of that licensing regime.
58 4 December 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Now taking a step back for a moment, the rest
of Bermuda pays payroll tax quarterly. Every other em-
ployer in Bermuda other than, I think, fishermen and
farmers, who are exempted for other public policy rea-
sons (so I will not touch on them for a moment) ar e re-
quired to pay that quarterly payroll tax on what payroll
is actually paid. I am sure there are many other employ-
ers, self -employed employers in particular in Bermuda,
who would appreciate very much the ability to prepay an amount, who might be similarl y fixed in a similar type
of an income bracket (if I can put it that way) as self -
employed. And I can imagine people like self -employed
general contractors who provide maintenance who have to pay for truck licences for their trucks (but, you
know, they are not making huge sums of money) would
very much appreciate to administratively streamline their own businesses and prepay $600 and prepay all of their payroll taxes.
Similarly, you can imagine people who worked
as housekeepers who were self -employed. And there
is a host of other types of self -employed people in Ber-
muda who you can imagine would benefit enormously
from having this type of a provision made for them so
that they can prepay a capped sum—a capped sum.
So, at the moment, a taxi operator will be pay-
ing a capped payroll tax of $600, if this passes (reduced
from $1,000), which means if any taxi operator makes
more than $52,000, using the payroll tax calculator on the government’s website, they are ahead. They are
ahead of every other person in Bermuda who earns a
similar amount.
And I suppose my question is, Why? Why is
that considered appropriate for one industry and not all? And is there any consideration being given to giving optionality to other employers in Bermuda who are in a
similar scenario who can prepay and cap their payroll tax liability in this manner? And secondarily, why is it considered appropriate only for taxi drivers and now
minibus drivers?
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Vice President Kiernan
Bell.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?
Senator Tucker, OBA Leader in the Senate,
you have the floor.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I actually only have a point of clarification I am
just looking for. I just want to be clear that the minibus operators will have to pay payroll tax on every vehicle
that they own. So, if an operator owns five minibuses,
[do] they have to pay payroll tax on each of those min-
ibuses? Just as a point of clarification.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, I just want
to start by simply responding to Senator Tucker’s ques-
tion by saying yes. That would be per vehicle.
I also want to take a step back to Senator Rob-
inson’s question about consultation to say that of course we have been in constant contact with the Ber-
muda Taxi Owners and Operators Association. It is a
relationship that obviously continues to evolve. We un-
derstand the touchpoints that have been contentious in
some areas. But I think that as we have seen, we have
been able to find some resolution for taxi drivers, taxi operators themselves in terms of increases and some
(I guess) reform to what was currently existing.
I can also say that obviously before we bring a
piece of legislation to this space, this Bill has gone
through analysis. This Bill has gone through drafting
and revisions. And so, before we get here of course there is a lot of consultation that takes plac e. So of
course, it is not appropriate to say that this is a matter
of an election promise. It is something that we are con-
stantly thinking about as a Government. We have re-
duced payroll taxes for workers across the board. We
have continued to have convers ations about how we
continued to expand that reduction in payroll tax for those who are warranted.
I would also comment that when we think about
the difference in payroll taxes and the variations in dif-ferent industries, I think it is worth highlighting the fact
that there are a combination of economic, social and
policy factors that obviously have to be considered as
we consider the unique needs and circumstances of
each industry. So I cannot speak on behalf of any Min-
ister in terms of the final policy decisions that are made, but I can say that as a Progressive Labour Party Gov-
ernment, payroll taxes and relieving the burdens on
workers is something we are always looking to do.
I am just making sure that I covered the points.
I appreciated Senator Wight, who believed that bringing
amendments was fair and appropriate. So, I want to
thank him for his support.
I think that addresses the comments and ques-
tions that were made by my colleagues.
And so, Madam President, I would like to move
that the Bill entitled the Payroll Tax Amendment (No. 2)
Act 2024 be now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to the second
reading?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
I move that Standing Order 26 be suspended
in respect of this Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that?
No objection.
Official Hansard Report 4 December 2024 59
B ermuda Senate [Motion carried: Standing Order 26 was suspended.]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
I move that the Bill entitled the Payroll Tax
Amendment (No. 2) Act 2024 be now read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third read-
ing?
No objection.
BILL
THIRD READING
PAYROLL TAX AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2024
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
Then I move that this Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that this Bill do now
pass.
Is there any objection to the [passage] of the
Bill?
No objection. The Bill is passed.
[
Motion carried: The Payroll Tax Amendment (No. 2)
Act 2024 was read a third time and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson,
and thank you, Senators, for your support of this Bill.
We will now move on then. And the next Order
of the Day is the second reading of the Contributory
Pensions (Amendment of Benefits and Validation) Act
2024. And that is also in the name of Senator Arianna Hodgson, the spokesperson for Finance.
Senator Hodgson, you can present your Bill
when you are ready.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Contributory Pensions (Amendment of Benefits and Validation) Act 2024 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to the second
reading?
No objection.
BILL
SECOND READING
CONTRIBUTORY PENSIONS (AMENDMENT OF
BENEFITS AND VALIDATION) ACT 2024 Sen. A rianna H odgson: Thank y ou, Ma dam Presi-
dent.
Madam President, I am pleased to present the
Contributory Pensions (Amendment of Benefits and
Validation) Act 2024 to this Honourable House. This Bill
seeks to amend the Contributory Pensions Act 1970 to
retroactively validate certain payments made which
were calculated on the basis of certain increased rates
during the period 16 August 2018 to 15 August 2019.
Madam President , this Bill also seeks to vali-
date the payment of such increase in benefits during
that period.
Madam President , the Government has put
through six pension increases in its time in Government
as part of its promise to put our seniors first and to in-
stitute annual cost- of-living increases for social insur-
ance pensions linked to the rate of inflation to help
lessen the hardships that too many of our seniors no w
endure.
Madam President , the House may recall that
the Contributory Pensions (Amendment of Benefits)
Order 2018 was approved in December of 2018, but
was not subsequently published in the Gazette as is re-
quired under the Statutory Instruments Act 1977 and,
therefore, did not complete the legislative process.
Madam President , the House should be ad-
vised that the Director of Social Insurance implemented
the increased rates based on the calculations proposed
in the Order. Madam President , you would appreciate
our prudence in addressing this misstep to ensure con-
tinuity in the law. This amendment seeks to ensure that
payments of benefits based on the increased amounts
made by or on behalf of the director with respect to the
relevant period shall be deemed to have been properly
and validly paid.
Thank you, Madam President .
The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Would any Senator care to speak on this [Bill]?
Senator Tucker, OBA Leader in the Senate,
you have the floor.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
We have no issue with this Bill. It is an admin-
istrative update really to correct an error, something
that was overlooked some time ago. It causes me a bit
of concern that we are correcting something that hap-
pened five years ago, and it took five years to actually
accomplish that. So, as I said, it is a little concerning. But we are here now, and it has been corrected. So, there is no issue.
I would, though, like to ask. In September I
asked about where the 2020 to 2023 actuarial reports were. And we still do not have those yet. So, if the Jun-ior Minister could give an update on that, that would be fantastic.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
60 4 December 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I am in support of this Bill. As long as the House
and the Senate have previously approved the rates in
2018 as the Junior Minister has just stated, then I am
in support of it. I just see it as being administrative in
nature. But five years is a long time to discover it. But
that being what it may, I think the appropriate thing to do is to correct a mistake that was made.
So, thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Wight.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?
Senator Wilkerson, Attorney General, you
have the floor.
Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you, Madam
President.
I just wanted to comment. I know there is sup-
port in the Chamber for the Bill, and I think just a couple
of questions around why might it take so long to recog-
nise an error from five years ago? I just want to say, certainly in my new role and becoming familiar with
what happens in Chambers in the drafting section,
there is a constant review of pieces of legislation. And sometimes it is in doing something new that there is a
look-back to find out that something did not work that
was previously done. And the view is, the minute that
there is recognition that an error has been made, I think
the protocol has been, in spite of the fact that someone
might not have noticed, it has been a long time, we want to correct legislation as we go and as we find it.
Because we know that other changes in subsequent
pieces of legislation, this may be foundational to some-thing else so that is the reason that it is important to
make these changes at the time, notwithstanding how
busy the drafters are doing other things.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Attorney General.
I believe it is over to you, Senator Arianna
Hodgson, to pass your Bill.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent. I would like to thank those in the Chamber who
have lent their support.
Senator Tucker did have a question about the
actual reports. And I can say that while they are done, they will be making their way to us very soon.

[Inaudible interjection]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Yes.

[Laughter]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Yes, and so I will make sure
that you have all of the reports that you need, Senator
Tucker.
And so, hearing no other questions, Madam
President, I want to move that the Bill entitled the Con-tributory Pensions (Amendment of Benefits and Valida-
tion) Act 2024 be now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to the second
reading?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
I move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended
in respect of this Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 was suspended.]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
Then I move that the Bill entitled the Contribu-
tory Pensions (Amendment of Benefits and Validation)
Act 2024 be now read a third time.

The President: Is there any objection to the third read-
ing?
No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING

CONTRIBUTORY PENSIONS (AMENDMENT OF
BENEFITS AND VALIDATION) ACT 2024
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
Then I move that the Bill do now pass.

The President: Is there any objection to the passage
of the Bill?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Contributory Pensions (Amend-
ment of Benefits and Validation) Act 2024 was read a
third time and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson,
and Senators for your support of the Bill.

Official Hansard Report 4 December 2024 61

Bermuda Senate MOTIONS

The President: There are none.

CONGRATULATORY AND/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES

The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this topic?
Minister Darrell, you have the floor.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
I would like to take this opportunity to . . . (Hold
one second. Sorry. Thank you, Madam President.)
I would like to take this opportunity to congrat-
ulate first and foremost two of the female Senators of this Chamber. First I would like to recognise and con-
gratulate the Attorney General, the Minister of Justice, Senator the Honourable Kim Wilkerson (also my
cousin) for her recognition by ABIR [Association of Ber-
muda Insurers and Reinsurers] this past Monday for all
of the work that she has done in private business and, more importantly, the work that she is about to do in her
role as Attorney General and Minister of Justice. It was
good to see her celebrated in that space, Madam Pres-ident. On Monday, unfortunately, I was unable to get
there. I was invited. But I know that that organisation,
as well as many Bermudians, are very excited and proud of the work that [Senator the Honourable Wilker-
son] has done and will continue to do in that space.
And following on with that, congratulations on
a successful Community Connect that the Attorney
General had last evening up in Warwick at the Warwick
Workmen’s Club, at which she was joined by another
female Senator, Senator Arianna Hodgson, who also,
coming off of a recent announcement also on Monday
that she will be the candidate up in constituency 25 in
Warwick, where Warwick Workmen’s is located. And I
want to say thank you because it is very important that
we get out in the community, and it is very i mportant
that the community is recognising the work that is hap-pening not only by the Government, but also by well -
educated and well -spoken females of this community.
So, I am happy and privileged to be in the Senate with those two in particular in this particular space. And con-gratulations to them for being honoured and being rec-
ognised for the work that they are doing and will con-
tinue to do in the community.
And while we are talking about Warwick and
constituency 25, which Senator Hodgson is going to be
running in, I want to talk about Warwick Workmen’s Club. I did have the opportunity following the event last
night to interact and do further connection with the ex-
ecutive members of Warwick Workmen’s Club. And I just want to congratulate them. Because sometimes
you go to these establishments, and there will be peo-
ple who will turn up their nose to these establishments and say, Well, you know, all it is is what they would they
call a watering hole. But that is not the case because
the conversations and the dialogue that was had last
night with the executive members . . . and I will call
them out. We had Mr. Kian Butterfield there. I think he
is the Secretary, I think, of Warwick Workmen’s. We
had Mr. LaDonja Bailey, who is the Vice President of
Warwick Workmen’s. We also had the President who
was there (and I am drawing a blank on his name right now. And I do apologise.)
But it was really good dialogue with the execu-
tive and some of their members last evening. And you
know, that is very important. Because those places,
and I was also at the Leopard’s Club before I went up
to there. And I want to congratulate these clubs for the
work that they are doing in even just providing a space
where individuals can discuss, individuals can kind of have very healthy dialogue as to where their country is
and where their country is going. And to further discuss
amongst each other the opportunities of fairness that
they see and are benefiting them.
So, I want to say congratulations in this case to
the executive of Warwick Workmen’s and also the ex-
ecutive of the Leopard’s Club, where they hosted a very successful third annual Eggnog and Dialogue, which
was put on by the Department of Culture.
So, as we move into further holiday celebra-
tions, I am sure there will be more times to congratulate and highlight individuals and organisations in our com-
munity that are doing good work to bring people to-
gether and good work to highlight all things that are happening in Bermuda.
So, thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Tucker, OBA Leader in the Senate,
you have the floor.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I will selfishly . . . since the Minister was talking
about things going on in the community, I will selfishly
say, Thank you very much to everyone who attended
my Seniors Tea on Sunday at St. Mark’s.
[Inaudible interjections and laughter]

An Hon. Senator : I wasn’t invited!
Sen. Robin Tucker: You are not a senior yet, Minister.

[Laughter]

Sen. Robin Tucker: I want to say congratulations to
. . . I do not have these two ladies’ last names, but they
started a group called Beyond Inclusion, Brianna and Rebecca. They invited a bunch of people to come and
see a movie last night at the Media Lounge. And the
movie was called Out of My Mind. And it was about a
62 4 December 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate young lady who has cerebral palsy. And it just sort of
went through the challenges that she was having inte-
grating into mainstream schooling and things like that.
And it was a very, very insightful movie. Because it re-
ally just went through her day -to-day challenges. And
certainly, you are left kind of being reminded that peo-
ple, just because they have a disability, that they are
still people and they still deserve to be treated accord-
ingly. So if anyone has an opportunity to see that,
[hosted by] Beyond Inclusion, I would certainly suggest
it. It is very, very good.
I would like to also extend condolences first to
my family, to the Butterfield family. My uncle Quinton
Butterfield has passed away. He was 99 and would
have celebrated his 100th birthday on January 27. So, I
just want to again say to my family my condolences publicly.
And as well as I want to express condolences
to the family of Kenneth Brangman. Kenneth Brangman
was a constituent in constituency 7. I also know him as
he worked as a caddie at Mid Ocean. He was ill, and when I did find out he was ill, I had called him u p and I
had promised to call him periodically just to check in on
him. And we had some good conversations. And I am
grateful to say that I did that. And we had some really good conversations. Good guy, nice guy, and it is very
sad to know that he has passed away.
So with that, Madam President, thank you. And
that is all I have today.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak on con-
gratulatory or . . .
Oh, sorry, Arianna Hodgson. Senator Arianna
Hodgson, you have the floor.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
I wanted to, I guess, echo some of the com-
ments made by our Senate Leader, Minister Darrell. I
would like to celebrate our newest Attorney General,
Senator Kim Wilkerson, who is also our Minister of Jus-
tice. Minister Darrell spoke to it briefly, but at AB IR’s
year-end reception, they actually honoured Pina Albo,
who had been their first female chair, as she was mak-ing her way out. And they actually celebrated our Attor-
ney General that same evening. So I thank them for
their recognition.
I also wanted to celebrate Colin Rego and Carl
Vincent on the soft launch of Pronto City Market. I ac-tually met Carl years ago. We were both in BEDC’s
[Bermuda Economic Development Corporation] entre-
preneurship programme. I was working on my baby
food, and they were working on DropIt at the time. And
then we met again at Ignite. We did that programme
together. And he is always working on something. The
both of them, they are not just innovative and visionary;
they are persons who actually get out there. Th ey do
the work. If it does not work, they try something else. And that is the type of innovation and creativity that
drives our economy, that drives our community. So ob-viously, congratulations to them.
Then finally, the Progressive Labour Party just
this morning announced their latest candidate in the up-
coming election. He is actually Shomari Talbot -Wool-
ridge. He is the Progressive Minds Chairman. He will be running in constituency 9, Smith’s West. So I would
like to congratulate him on today’s announcement and wish him every success.
That is all, Madam President. Thank you.

The President: Thank you.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Oh, wait! Sorry. One more
thing.
While I am there, I just want to thank those who
have assisted me in the lead- up to my announcement
and those who are getting ready to head out with me
as we get out in constituency 25. Grateful for the sup-
port from all sides, all walks of life. I truly a ppreciate it.
[Inaudible interjection]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Yes. it has been all of them.
[Laughter]
The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Now, Senator Lindsay Simmons, you have the
floor.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent. I am just going to be really fast.
I just want to congratulate MarketPlace and all
of the participants in the parade. It was an amazing evening on Sunday. My nephew, who is two months
old, was so excited. He was lighting up as the parade
went by with all of their lights. Obviously, he does not
understand what was going on at two months. But just
to see him smiling when the lights came up. And hon-
estly, all of the participants who participated in the pa-rade . . . so, thank you, MarketPlace. And obviously a
great fireworks display that we wer e able to watch.
And I do want to join my Senate colleague to
my right and congratulate her and Shomari. They are
some of the youngest in the room for the PLP. And I
think they will be great MPs when they win their seats.
So congratulations on your roll -out this week. And,
Madam President, hopefully Senator Hodgson will be in another place next time. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Lindsay Simmons.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
No? Oh, I beg your pardon.
Minister Wilkerson, Attorney General, you
have the floor.

Official Hansard Report 4 December 2024 63

Bermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you, Madam
President.
I did not want the opportunity to miss me to join
my colleagues in congratulating Senator Hodgson on
her roll -out as an approved candidate for Warwick, con-
stituency 25. It is where I grew up, so my roots are
there. And I am very much looking forward to se eing
what Senator Hodgson will do as she goes forward. As I believe I said to a group last night, she is the face of
the go- forward PLP in engaging and supporting
younger candidates who are connected with our com-
munity. So, I am wishing her every success and take
this platform to join my colleagues in congratulating
her.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Wilkerson.
Would any other Senator care to speak at this
time?
Hearing none, then we will move on.

ADJOURNMENT

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.
Madam President, I now ask that the Senate
do adjourn until next week, Wednesday, December 11.

The President: Mm-hmm.
Would any Senator care to speak on the mo-
tion to adjourn?
Senator Lindsay Simmons, you have the floor.

ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, I was not
going to speak. But I just remembered, I was just sitting
here thinking about the MPs in another place on Friday.
Minister Hayward was speaking about domestic vio-lence. And I had the opportunity to sit in a room last
week with S enator Hodgson and the Attorney General,
Kim Wilkerson, and Minister Furbert and some other
people. And I am reflecting on Minister Hayward’s speech. And I had someone who was sitting at the ta-
ble, Linda Bogle -Mienzer , who was speaking as well at
this roun dtable. And she was speaking about men
standing up. We need our men to stand up and speak
about and speak against domestic violence against
women.
So many times we hear about survivor stories.
But we hardly hear from our men. We need men to
stand up and say, Enough is enough! If you see some-
body who you know is abusing, whether it is physical or
financial, stand up and let them know that it is not right.
We need more men to stand up like Minister Hayward and say that we are not going to allow our men to con-
tinue this abuse on w omen.
I believe that if we have more men who stand
up, especially in politics, businessmen, police officers . . . we have so many positive male role models who
also turn a blind eye. I believe that men and women are
doing a disservice to the community by seeing things
and saying, That is not our business. Somebody in our
meeting, I believe it was the Assistant Commissioner
who said, Before, everybody wanted to mind their own
business and was told to mind their own business. But
when we mind our own business and do not stand up
for what is wrong, then we are just doing this country a disservice.
So I do not want to be long. But I do want to
say that, as a survivor, I thank my daddy for standing
up for me. And I pray that more men will stand up for
women like me who could not stand up for ourselves at
the time. So I ask all men to stand up, speak on it,
speak against it. Put up op -eds. If we are going to put
up an op- ed, put up an op -ed from a man to say that
we are not going to allow our women to be abused.
So thank you, Madam President. And again,
stand up, men!

The President: Thank you, Senator Lindsay Simmons.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Minister Wilkerson, Attorney General, you
have the floor.

ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you very much,
Madam President.
Like my colleague, Lindsay Simmons, who just
finished speaking, I also wanted to talk to the issue of
domestic violence. Today, Madam President, is day 10
of the 16 Days of Activism in relation to domestic vio-
lence awareness. This has been promulgated by the
United Nations Women organisation, the United Na-tions Population Fund, the International Labour Organ-
ization and of course here in Bermuda, my colleague
referred to the roundtable conversation that we partici-
pated in last week, which marked day 1. So w e are now
in day 10 of the 16 Days of Activism.
And I thought it was important to use this fo-
rum, Madam President, to talk about it a little bit more.
As my colleague just said, we heard a very impas-
sioned speech from our colleague in another place,
Minister Jason Hayward, last Friday as a man standing
up. And what he was saying, as my colleague has said,
If you see something, say something. And on the page
for the UN Women organisation, they are hash- tagging
the 16 Days of Activism with the slogan No excuse. And
the idea is that there should be no excuse to allow do-
mestic violence, violence against women and girls, to
continue in the way that it has.
Madam President, if you will permit me, I would
like to read just a little bit from the UN Women page, which talks about the 16 Days of Activism and why it is
important.

64 4 December 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: You certainly may.

Sen. the Hon. Kim Wilkerson: Thank you, Madam
President.
So according to that organisation, “Without
ending violence against women and girls, the world
cannot reach the Sustainable Development Goals . . .”
(which have been set out). “This violence remains a
major barrier towards gender equality, a commitment
made at the Fourth World Conference on Women . . .”
So the hashtag #NoExcuse is something that I believe
every community, and Bermuda included, should pon-
der. So taking steps to stop violence against women,
there are three key points set out:
1. “End impunity by advocating for and establish-ing laws and policies that hold perpetrators ac-
countable.” And that, Madam President, is something that we intend to do more of. Mem-
bers of the community, those in the listening
audience would have heard in the Progressive
Labour Party’s Throne Speech that the domes-
tic violence court programme is one of the
things that will be rolled out in this legislative
season (in the next 12 months it will be built
upon) that will continue to advocate, establish laws and hol d perpetrators accountable.
2. In addition, as the UN has set out, a step taken will be to adopt and implement plans, national
plans to end violence against women and girls.
And such plans should be definitive policies
and also investing in decisions that make a dif-ference. So there, government resources have
to be brought to bear to bring this into fruition.
3. Invariably, to “Invest in prevention . . .” (pro-
grammes to ensure) “rights . . . and access to
essential services for survivors.”
Madam President, my colleague, Minister Dar-
rell, referred to a community conversation last night. And I was presenting . . . “Presenting” is probably too
strong of a word. I was having a conversation with
members of the community and Community Connect.
And at the end of the night, a woman came up to me
and she asked about getting assistance for a situation
where she described a survivor of domestic abuse (and
in this case, she did not mind my sharing), an incestu-
ous situation, where the perpetrator had serv ed time in
prison here in Bermuda, has been released. They have
finished serving their time. But the injustice that she de-
scribed was that the victim must annually go to get her
protection order renewed. Our current systems do not provide for an open- ended protection order. And this
was something that was not known to me. I am learning
on the job as fast as I can.
And it would seem to me that the obvious way
that this should work in such a situation would be that
you get a perpetual protection order. And that if the sit-uation changes and that victim in the case somehow
was able to forgive and make amends with that p arent,
that they can then ask for it to be lifted. But not the other way around. And what happens in this situation is that that victim is victimised annually by our system be-
cause she is having to go through the process of getting
that protection order. A nd we understand that, you
know, family reunification may be a goal. But there are
so many egregious circumstances where the rights and
the protection ongoing for that victim have to be para-
mount.
So I use that example to say, Madam Presi-
dent, that there are things that we can, we must and we
will do to strengthen protections for victims, to continue
to advocate for reduction in domestic violence in our
country. What I have learned, Madam President, is that
according to the UN, governments can and certainly
will pass laws. But those who do, they say countries
that have powerful laws to stop domestic violence have on average lower rates of intimate partner violence than countries that do not attack it via laws. And that
statistic is 9.5 per cent compared with 16.0 per cent in
countries th at do not have laws directly related to that
issue.
As my colleague has said, we are in a period
where if you see something, you must say something. There are no excuses and there are particularly no ex-
cuses to prevent us as a Government from continuing
to build our laws to look at this issue very carefully and
to stand up to reduce and stop domestic violence and
violence in general against women and girls. So that is
the mantra. We are at day 10. But this is something in
the 16 Days of Activism that we should continue to keep
in mind and [keep] at the front of our consciousness
beyond the end of the 16 days.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister.
I see three hands.
Senator Dwayne Robinson, I will allow you to
go first.

ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
I just wanted to be very brief in saying that I am
extremely supportive of what has been said by my col-
leagues in the Progressive Labour Party in response to
domestic violence. And as a man in the Chamber, I
wanted to take this opportunity to speak out and to take
the advice of my colleague and to say that we need to have zero tolerance for domestic violence. We need to
have zero tolerance for violence in all forms, especially,
though, against women and children. Because as we
have seen, the statistics do not lie. And that is where
the majority of these cases are. And unfortunately, they
are on the rise. So as they get to the community, this is
something that we need to pull together about. This is
something that we need to speak to the young men
about in our lives.
Official Hansard Report 4 December 2024 65

Bermuda Senate I frequently have this conversation with my little
brother, who is 16 now, about how he needs to ap-
proach and respect the women in his life. And, you
know, I do not want to hear even raising his voice an
inkling to our mother at all, right? So, it is just our doing
our little part in our society and using our platforms and
our voices to speak against it.
So, I think Minister Hayward was right to high-
light this issue. As a man, it was very crucial for him to
speak out as a Member of Government. And I think that
most of us in the Chamber will say we are always moved by Senator Lindsay [Simmons’s] speeches on
this topic, as somebody who has not only gone through
it, but has come out, in my opinion, as a stronger per-
son who contributes to this Chamber.

CRACKING DOWN ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: And I just wanted to make a
segue a bit to substance abuse. Because I believe that
a lot of these things tie in to the rise in violence across the board that was seen and the rise of offences. You
know, we have a culture that has somewhat accepted
. . . you know, Bermudians love to drink, blah- blah-
blah. We all know the song. All of us have grown up,
we know the Bermudian culture. And I think that this is
something that across the board legislators need to
have dialogue on.
Because as we have seen, the arrests of im-
paired drivers has increased to a three- year high.
Right? And I believe that if we drill down on a lot of these cases of alcoholism, any sort of substance
abuse, we will find mental health [disorders]. We will
find domestic abusers. We will find violent offenders.
Because a lot of that is tied to being in a substance
abuse sort of situation. A lot of that has to do with how that manifests in the lives of people, whether it be speeding, driving under the influence or abusing your
partner, abusing your spouse or whatever.
So I think that we need to have an equally
strong stance on this culture that we have accepted,
about cracking down a bit on our substance abuse and
driving while under the influence, and also linking this
for people. Because I feel like a lot of times, we address
problems separately. And I think folks need to see the
link between, you know, domestic violence and alco-
holism or substance abuse. And how letting your friend
get on their bike while they are intoxicated or letting
your friend go home to his spouse intoxicated, you
know.
And I do not want to seem as though I am just
coming down on one gender in this regard when it
comes to substance abuse. But I do think that we have
to take collective responsibility of, yes, your friend has
come out to drink with you. But what happens after?
When they leave the bar and they are intoxicated or they are using any sort of drug, what happens after they
leave you and you guys have had that good time? Do they go home and take it out on their children? Do they take it out on their spouse?
So, we need to take a collective responsibility
here as far as making sure your friends know their limit.
Making sure your friends get home safely. Making sure that transport is laid out. And if you are aware of the
negative consequences of that night out with you, then
you unfortunately are part of the problem if you con-
tinue to bring that person out, knowing that they are go-
ing to go home and take it out on their loved one.
So I think that we need to highlight issues that
thread together. We cannot simply make statements
and then go back out and continue the same behaviour.
I have always been one of the people who, in my
friends’ circle, is always considered to be a nagger in a
sense. And I have always been told, because I am al-ways the one tapping them on their shoulders and say-ing, Excuse me. How many fingers do I have up? or
whatever it is. And it is always, Eh, you know, I’m hav-
ing fun. But it is the responsibility, I find . If I care about
my friend, if I care about my loved one, I want them to get home safe. But not only to get home safe, but I want
them to live in a safe environment in their home.
And I think that this is something that, if we do
really care about our loved ones, then this is something
that I think the whole community can get behind. So I
am very, I use the word “proud” of my colleagues today
for highlighting this very crucial issue. And I just wanted
to join my voice to highlight substance abuse in our
community and that we need to be kind of treating
those things hand in hand going forward.
With that, Madam President, that is it for me.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dwayne Robin-
son.
Dr. John Wight, you have the floor.

ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
It is usually much easier for me to talk about
things like Tourism Investment Orders than it is the is-
sue at hand. But I just want to lend my absolute 100 per
cent support to all of my Senate colleagues in talking
about the issues that are affecting so many families in
not just Bermuda, but everywhere around the world.
And I guess I was fortunate enough to be raised in a
family where we learned to have great respect for all women, all children. And to see so many cases of
abuse in Bermuda is troubling to everybody.
So as a male, I just want to thank all of the fe-
males, all of my Senate colleagues who have spoken
so beautifully on this very important issue.
So thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator John Wight.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
66 4 December 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Senator Robin Tucker, OBA Leader in the Sen-
ate, you have the floor.

ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN AND MEN

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
There is not much that I can add. I just wanted
to add support to what my Senate colleagues have al-
ready said.
I am just loving the love in the room today. I
really am.
[Laughter]
Sen. Robin Tucker: Although I know we are talking
specifically about women today, and the Attorney Gen-
eral has sort of set a foundation, I just feel obligated to
also add, because our comments have mushroomed a
little bit more broadly. Because I do not want to leave
the men out who are also being abused. Because it is
easy to do unintentionally because, obviously when-
ever we . . . I think as a community we have been con-
ditioned to, as soon as we hear domestic abuse, do-
mestic violence, because it has been largely women who have been the victims of abuse that it is easy to
unintentionally discount the men who are also victims
of abuse.
And it is a difficult thing for a man to admit that
he is being abused. But there are some in this commu-nity who are in those situations. So I just wanted to add just that tiny little piece because it is a very important
piece. And if there are any men who are listening who
are in that situation, just know that there are some of us who are supporting you as well. And that you are not
forgotten and that you are not left out. And I do know that from a more holistic point of view that resources are coming.

DOG ATTACKS
Sen. Robin Tucker: If I may, I just want to just ever so
briefly just mention something that is also a real con-cern of mine. I have not brought it up in a while, but I just feel compelled to now. And that is the issue of dog
attacks. Fairly recently, there were several more dog
attacks. And I mean, I do not know if I could use the
word “angered” or “frustrated.” I do not know what the
appropriate word is, but I was very, very, very upset at
the fact that these . . . not just the dog attacks, that is
an issue in itself. But a two- year-old child had been bit-
ten in one of those dog attacks.
And so, I just want to remind that some of us in
the public are waiting for some movement on this be-
cause it is a critical issue. And it is something that is not
going to go away by osmosis. I can only imagine, and I am not saying that nothing is happening in the back-
ground. It is just stuff that is happening that the public
is not aware of. I am not aware of [it], and the public is not aware of [it]. We know that a report has gone to the
Minister. But we have not heard anything since. And
that was sometim e in the summer.
So, as I said, I just wanted to highlight that be-
cause it is a very important thing. And it is a very im-portant thing that we need to address. It is difficult be-
cause there are various components that make it
somewhat of a contentious issue. However, it is one of
those issues that we have to face, and we have to deal with it before someone else gets very, very, very seri-
ously hurt. Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Arianna Hodgson, you have the floor.

ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN AND MEN

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
I wanted to join the conversation that was initi-
ated by my colleague on this side. And I wanted to lend
my voice to the awareness that has been spread
around the elimination of gender -based violence. And
of course they tell you not to read the comments, but of course I always go and read the comments. And there were some men in the comments who spoke about the
need for someone to speak up for men. I thought it was
really important to recognise that generally, obviously
there is abuse that is being experienc ed on both sides.
We also spoke about the conversation we were
having with Minister Tinee Furbert at the roundtable. And what I had shared there was that I had an instance
with a friend of mine. We were having a conversation.
And she told me not that she was directly disappointed,
but that she wished I would have been there for her in
ways that I was not while she was being abused. And I
told her that I did not even recognise that in that time
she was being abused. But beyond the fact that I did
not know, I would not have k nown how to intervene,
how to step in, how to provide some type of support.
So, during the conversation, we talked about
the fact that in many instances persons just do not even
know that they are being abused. They do not under-stand abuse and all of its forms. They do not under-
stand the elements and dynamics of power in abusive
relationships and how that leads to unfortunate circum-
stances. So, I was doing some thinking, and I am al-ways doing the talking piece. And so, I was like, Well,
what are five things that I can say to better inform the public, to better inform my peers and young persons
around me? And the first thing is that abuse can take
many forms. There is financial abuse. There is emo-
tional abuse. There is the physical. There are so many
elements of abuse.
And as I spoke to briefly last week, we are see-
ing the impacts of that abuse in so many different ways.
It is impacting our young people, our middle- aged
Official Hansard Report 4 December 2024 67

Bermuda Senate persons, right up to our senior years. So, the second
thing was that of course, like I said, it affects people of
all ages, of all backgrounds, of all genders. So, when
we think about that and the fact that I guess abuse also
involves an element of power and control, I think it is important that we have to give our young people and
our peers —because again age is no differentiator —the
tools to say, Hey. I recognise this as abuse.
The fourth thing is that it is not the victim’s fault,
that it is never the victim’s fault. I know that sometimes
you try to rationalise, you try to have conversations around, you try to think about what behaviours perhaps
would have resulted in the final abuse at the end. And
we have to remind ourselves, our peers that it is never
your fault, that there is never justification for abuse in
any of its forms.
And then finally, help and support are availa-
ble. So, I was sitting at a table where we had the Attor-
ney General present. We had our Minister of Youth, So-
cial Development and Seniors. We had Tammy [Rich-
ardson] -Augustus in the room. We had Juanae Crock-
well, Women’s Resource Centre and Laurie Shiell of
the Centre Against Abuse. We had representatives
from the Gender Affairs Council. And within our council,
we have a male member who often reminds us that it is not just about women. You know, this problem is b ig-
ger.
And while I often say that women . . . we invest
in women, you protect even more than just the woman,
I think it is important that we all feel that there is a space
that we can go to. And I think that we have to, just us as a Government, we have to do a better job of telling
the story, of saying that, Hey, this person is ready and
prepared to help. We had conversations with the police.
And you know, sometimes the police have issues relat-
ing and humanising themselves in their interactions with the public. B ut we have heard about ways that they
have changed their operations to ensure that victims
feel better supported during different points in the pro-
cess.
Again, I appreciate those men who join the
conversation, who lend a voice. Linda Bogle -Mienzer ,
she spoke too. She said, You know, we need men to
stand up and they need to be the ones carrying the sto-ries. But Tammy [Richardson- Augustus] also spoke to
the fact one of her methods is to spread awareness in
the international business sector. I think that abuse is
something we tend to relate with a particular colour of
skin, or at least it is highlighted in cert ain segments. But
abuse is something that touches all persons. It does not
matter how much money you make. Abuse is abuse. And it is present. And it is prevalent. And I think we
need to encourage more conversations about abuse,
about its impact, about the economic cost of abuse on
our government, on our communities, in our homes.
There are so many things that stem from abuse.
And I was having another conversation, I was
like, Do you think, you know, that all of society’s ills and
issues can be traced back to some sort of abuse? And I am kind of thinking that that is the case. We have to
think about the way we show up for ourselves, the way
we show up for our young people, the tools that we give
them to succeed in life. And I think that when we are
more intentional about doing that, w e can begin the
work of healing. There are communities that desper-
ately desire it. So that is it for me today.
Thank you for the time, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson.
Does any other Senator want to speak?

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Pres-
ident.

The President: Minister Darrell.

ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you. Thank you,
Madam President.
I would like to just lend my voice to this conver-
sation as well. And I know we did hear, thanks to my
colleague, Senator Jason Hayward, for his very riveting
speech on this topic that he gave on Friday evening. I
would like to also congratulate all of the individuals who
have been around roundtables, whether it be in small
private discussions or public settings. Also, as a former
educator, the work that is going on on a daily basis from
educators, school teachers, counsellors to bring this to
the fore and to warn young people at a young age how
to navigate through this topic.
Also, Madam President, I would like to again
highlight the Minister who is leading this charge, Minis-ter Tinee Furbert, who has taken this on not just in
these 16 days, but as a mantra for her Ministry and the
work that they are doing, supported also by t he Junior
Minister, of course, with real -life accounts of sometimes
horrific stories. But those stories are what bring aware-
ness and will bring individuals to stand up and say, You
know what? Enough is enough.
So, it is my hope that once these 16 days, once
this campaign ends, Madam President, that the topic
does not get lost or go into the abyss and people just
fall back into what some people may have as their norm or their reality. But we will remember this a nd continue
to push forward with remembering the horrible, horrible
topic which is domestic violence.
So, thank you, Madam President.

ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
I would just like to congratulate each of you
who have spoken on the topic. Because I myself for
years worked in the field of mental health and sub-
stance abuse, both in London . . . And I can tell you that
even working with church groups in the London area,
there were a number of society and well -off people who
68 4 December 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate . . . we talk about the social drift theory where you will
have people who occupy high positions get into alcohol
or substance abuse. And then they lose their jobs. And
then there is the social drift issue.
Then I come back home, and I was working in
St. Brendan’s (when it was known as St. Brendan’s at
the time) in mental health, as well as alcoholism ser-vices and substance abuse. I have counselled men
who have been abused, and I will tell you . . . the young
men who have been abused.
So, this topic . . . what has struck me in my
years now is that it is getting worse. The alcohol and
the substance abuse seem to have increased. I have
seen more violence, more reports. Or maybe it is that
people are reporting more. But it has really, real ly
shaken me to my foundation to find that in this small Island of Bermuda, we have such a high incidence of
both abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse.
So, I am really pleased to hear that there are a
number of people, and I know the names of the people you have mentioned this morning who are heading up some of these services. And the word needs to get out
there. There is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed
about. You need to come forward. Let somebody know.
There are people who can help you.
I hope that there are a number of people who
are listening to us and to you all today, that they realise that they are not alone. They do not have to suffer in silence. But there are people who can help.
So, I commend each of you who have spoken.
And, you know, now in this . . . I am in my 80s now; I
do not mind telling people. But —
[Inaudible interjection]

The President: Hey, listen! Listen. I own it.
But I want to say to you that the abuse is get-
ting worse. So certainly, when I came here and when
[Senator] Lindsay Simmons had talked about her expe-
rience, that struck a real chord in me. Because when
people talk about what they have experienced, that
brings it home. And it is very distressing. But I think it is
important. Those people who have listened to you all this morning know that we as a Senate, just as has been stated that in another place there was some dis-
cussion about it as well. So, it is a top ical issue now.
And I think that people need to know that as Legislators
in both Houses, we certainly want to see an end to . . .
at least help those who are in such situations.
So, I thank each one of you who have spoken
on this topic today. And I only hope that we can at least
assure that Legislators do understand and support all
of the services that are out there to help those who find
themselves in such situations. So, thank y ou. And if
there are . . . I don’t know if there are any other com-
ments anyone wants to make.
But if not, then . . . [Senator].
ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Presi-
dent.
I just want to say thank you to everybody. And
just the last couple of words are just to remember for all
to just stand up. Thank you.

The President: Thank you.
With that said then, Senate stands adjourned
until next week, Wednesday. And thank you all for your attendance and your comments today. Be well.

[At 12:1 3 pm, the Senate stood adjourned until
Wednesday, 11 December 2024.]