Labour MP Adrian Vassallo has called on the government to "just say no" to sex tourism and to crack down on sex offences including nude bathing and prostitution.

Speaking in parliament on the adjournment, Dr Vassallo referred to remarks last week by Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo and said he could not understand how the parliamentary secretary, who organised a day of prayer for MPs, could give the impression that he was undecided over allowing sex tourism.

He did not think Mr Vassallo was in favour of such things, but he had asked a series of questions on what an MP should do when pressed to allow such matters, when the simple answer was just to say no.

The impression had been given that it was the prime minister who was stopping everything. That meant that some people in the government were in favour. If that was the case, they should have the guts to speak out.

Indeed, Dr Vassallo said, sex tourism had existed in Malta for a long time and he was surprised how the Church and other institutions were not speaking out.

The problem about sex tourism was that the police were turning a blind eye. Since 1987 no one had been arraigned for nude bathing yet one could see topless bathers everywhere. And everybody knew about the nude bathing which took place in the bay between Gnejna and Ghajn Tuffieha, but the police were doing nothing.

He had spoken several times about prostitution at Ta' Xbiex and Gzira. The police carried out raids after he spoke. By a miracle some people were arraigned, but they got away Scot free.

At Gzira garden there were sex shows every day by groups of Maltese and foreign gays. The situation was unbelievable.

Everybody knew how some hotels were nothing more that brothels, full of Russian girls who came here week after week ostensibly to learn English. Again, nothing had been done except that one or two hotels had been closed down after the situation was highlighted in a TV programme. Yet this racket was continuing "gas down."

Everybody knew of strip tease shows and other activities in bars. Malta now also had Playboy and other obscene magazines, allowed into Malta by the Christian Democratic government, without anybody complaining about them.

There was also unchecked pornography on cable television.

Dr Vassallo referred to a recent raid on lap dancers. The government, he said, had actually issued a permit, and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg should table the permit request that had been made and the way the permit was issued.

Concluding, Dr Vassallo said Malta needed to get its priorities right, and what the people should be discussing were the problems of single parents, failed marriages, girls who became pregnant at a young age, alcohol abuse by children and the obscene modes of dress of the young.

Dr Vassallo said the parliamentary secretary, like himself, was a Vassallo. They had a lion on the crest of their surname, and he should fight those who wanted sex tourism like a lion, not a lamb.