Column: Lindsay Simmons On OBA & More
[Opinion column written by the PLP Senator Lindsay Simmons]
Let’s recall when the One Bermuda Alliance [OBA] was in power:
- No legislative reforms or updates to strengthen sentencing for sexual offenses against minors
- No implementation of a sex offender registry despite public pressure and growing awareness of community safety risks.
- No alerts to the community when high-risk or repeat sexual offenders were released into our communities.
- No action in response to repeated public calls from nonprofits, advocacy groups, and survivors to strengthen protections and implement prevention-focused training for educators and youth leaders.
- No action when high-profile offenders received lenient sentences, failing to challenge or amend weak sentencing norms.
MP Robert King’s words ring painfully true. The system under the OBA lacked urgency, oversight, and accountability.
The PLP believes that survivors deserve protection and justice, and should not be exploited for political gain.
That’s why the PLP:
- Requires offenders to complete treatment before release, sets 10+ year supervision orders, and created the Offender Risk Management Team
- Implemented Sex Offender Register with mandatory supervision, monitoring, and penalties for breaches.
- Launched a 5-Year Domestic Abuse Strategyto improve prevention, response, and accountability.
- Appointed a Domestic Abuse Liaison, the first certified liaison social worker to support survivors across police, legal, and health services.
- Pushed for a Multi-agency team to meet regularly to coordinate support for high-risk survivors.
- Enabled public notification of high-risk sex offenders.
- Strengthened sentencing guidelines for child-related sexual crimes to reflect their severity.
- Partnered with community organizations like SCARS to extend protective training for educators, parents, coaches, and caregivers because safeguarding begins at home and school.
To survivors, please know your voice matters and that we hear you.
The PLP is committed to ensuring that:
- Justice is prompt, fair, and survivor‑centered.
- Perpetrators are held accountable and prevented from harming others again.
- Community safety is restored, and trust rebuilt.
To those who genuinely want to side with survivors we urge you to join us. The system requires transformation and we can’t do it alone.
Together we can put in place systems that deliver real outcomes and leave behind the legacy of delay and neglect.
- Senator Lindsay Simmons
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Let’s recall when the PLP has been in power:
No real progress on diversifying the economy despite repeated promises.
No credible housing plan while rents and costs continue to spiral.
No consistent strategy on education reform—plans announced, retracted, and delayed.
No accountability for failed projects and overspending.
No transparency in how contracts are awarded, raising repeated conflict-of-interest concerns.
No clear plan for tech growth, while younger Bermudians leave for opportunity abroad.
A string of controversies with MPs, from poor judgment to outright scandals, undermining public trust.
Government hacks, data breaches, and cybersecurity lapses exposing vulnerabilities and shaking confidence.
The PLP’s record shows a government more focused on spin than delivery. Words about “hearing the people” have not been matched by results.
The PLP are bigots.
The PLP removed the right to same sex marriage, because they’re bigots.
Has Senator Simmons forgotten about the numerous new hotel deals signed by the OBA as well as the America’s Cup event which pumped in excess of $330 million into the Bermuda economy?