Premier Wayne Panton has said the introduction of codes of conduct for both parliamentarians and the Cabinet remain a priority for the PACT government.
However, he was unable to provide a timeline on when the codes would be completed and implemented.
“Both are being actioned at this point,” Panton said Wednesday as he held his first press briefing after being sworn in as Premier last month.
The implementation of a parliamentary code formed part of the PACT deal paving the way for the return of House Speaker McKeeva Bush.
Panton said he spoke with the West Bay West MP about that code on Tuesday “indicating to him that it is a priority for us to get the move forward”.
He said government is progressing with both codes at the same time.
“I think it’s easier for us to get the Cabinet one in place quickly… we’ll probably have to do a select committee in Parliament and develop the parliamentary code of conduct, but both are our priority,” he said.
Panton said he had previously worked on a Cabinet code of conduct and it had been “in fairly final form five years ago.”
However, Panton said it had never been taken up.
Back in 2016, the Alden McLaughlin-led Progressives government, of which Panton was a minister, had a proposed update on the 1995 code.
“I think it probably needs some tweaking now. I think we can move ahead and I have given the governor an indication that’s a priority for us to move forward with and have that adopted by the Cabinet,” he said.
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