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In the Budget Debate in Parliament on Tuesday (Mar. 1), Workers' Party (WP) Members of Parliament Dennis Tan and Sylvia Lim shared their views on Budget 2022.

Tan focused his attention on Singapore's environmental transitions, while Lim spoke about innovation and inclusion.

Sylvia Lim: Singapore lagging behind in innovation

In her speech, WP chair Sylvia Lim suggested that Singapore was lagging behind in innovation, and called on the government to conduct a "stock-take" of how Singapore did in inventing or creating solutions for Covid-19.

She noted that Singapore had made some "significant breakthroughs", such as a Covid-19 neutralising antibody test kit by Duke-NUS and a Covid-19 PCR test kit by DSO National Laboratories that does not require reagents to process samples.

"On the other hand, despite some initial hype, the Health Sciences Authority has yet to approve for public use any Singapore manufactured vaccine or Antigen Rapid Test kit for home use, arguably two of the most critical resources needed in the pandemic," said Lim.

Lim may have been referring to the Arcturus vaccine, co-developed in Singapore, which is still not included in Singapore's National Vaccination Programme.

She added that having locally-manufactured solutions was "not simply a matter of national pride", but that having to rely on overseas suppliers subjects Singapore to market forces and has resulted in supply shortages.

Lim then suggested that Singapore do some "introspection" on why Singapore seemed to be lagging behind in innovation, and if there were any "inhibitors" in Singapore's ecosystem that had to be addressed.

Budget statement illustrations could be more inclusive

Lim also noted that the illustrations in this year's Budget Statement all had some factors in common, such as all including a married couple where the husband is always older than the wife, and tends to earn more.

She suggested that the ministry be broader in its illustrations to capture more types of households, such as divorced families, families with a foreign spouse, and adult singles living with elderly parents, and that the combined household income could have been stated instead of splitting between the husband and wife.

GST hike and carbon tax could lead to higher costs: Dennis Tan

In his speech, Tan said that while the WP has supported the carbon tax since it was first brought up and recognises that while  decarbonisation is necessary, it could lead to temporary costs for Singaporeans.

"But we are of the view that when we do become a green economy, the impact of the carbon taxes will be reduced," he added.

He shared his hopes that the government will share more about how they plan to mitigate the impact of increased costs due to the carbon tax on households, beyond the announced U-Save vouchers.

In relation to the increased costs that shift toward decarbonisation will impose on Singaporeans, Tan echoed the WP's stance against the GST hike, saying that it "comes at an inopportune time for Singaporeans, many of whom are dealing with record consumer price inflation".

He also asked for clarification on whether effort will be made to extend the carbon tax to companies that emit less than 25,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas annually, in order to "enhance our efforts towards a net-zero ambition".

Currently, the tax applies to facilities that directly emit at least 25,000 tCO2e of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually.

Need to think carefully about transformation

Tan emphasised the need to think carefully about how to bring about the changes proposed by the new measures, in order to "not leave anyone behind".

He spoke of the need for a "Just Transition" — one that "is inclusive and equips those who work here, and plan to work here, with the necessary know-how to access good job opportunities in the sustainability sector" — within the petrochemicals industry.

He noted the deep links Singapore has with the "brown economy", as the fourth-biggest exporter in the world of refined petroleum, and fuels and chemicals accounting for roughly 23 per cent of the country's total merchandise trade.

The petrochemical industry has been strategic pillar of Singapore's industrial sector, said Tan, contributing nearly 3 per cent of the country's GDP in 2019, employing 27,000 in 2020.

Manage green transition carefully

Taking away manpower and capital in the petrochemical industry abruptly would "cut the oxygen prematurely at a time when our green ambitions have only just begun", especially as some petrochemicals actually play a role in the green economy, such as modern solar panels, modern wind turbines, and batteries, Tan said.

He asked the government to share more details on how it plans to manage the green transition in the petrochemicals industry, and whether Singapore will continue to attract and keep parts of the industry in Singapore that are relevant for the green economy.

He added that he will focus on the "manpower transition" in the industry during the Committee of Supply (COS) debates.

Electric vehicle charging

Responding to Tan's Parliamentary question in January, Minister for Transport S. Iswaran had said that there are currently around 2,200 electric vehicle (EV) charging points in Singapore, and that more than 600 more will be deployed at public carparks under the joint LTA-URA pilot tender in 2022.

Iswaran also said that LTA will monitor EV adoption trends and accelerate the deployment of the EV charging network where necessary, in order to meet the target of 60,000 charging points islandwide by 2030.

In his Budget speech on Tuesday, Tan expressed his concern that the current standing of 2,200 charging points seems "a long way off" from the 60,000 target in eight years.

Thus, he asked what the government's progressive targets over the next few years are, and how it plans to ramp up the installation of public EV chargers.

Tan noted that Singapore is unlike other countries, such as the U.S. and Australia, where people "have the luxury" of charging their vehicles in their own garages overnight, and there may be queues at Singaporean charging points.

He asked what the government's experience with the installation of the initial EV chargers over the past year has been, such as if any study has been done to establish a suitable ratio of chargers to cars per car park.

New habits need to be formed

Tan pointed out how drivers may need to develop new habits for charging their cars, as the time it would take to charge would be longer than the time spent filling up petrol at a kiosk.

He thus asked whether the Ministry for Transport will "consider using public education messaging on wise and considerate use of public chargers so that we can start engendering good and considerate habits with our drivers" while the number of EV drivers are still small and growing.

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Top photos via CNA.