Labour's double talk

Labour's double standards are so very annoying. Labour criticises the government over capital projects or lack thereof and then it wilfully abandons its own building in Pembroke leaving it to deteriorate completely.

I remember Alfred Sant going round criticising the construction of the Madliena apartments at Busietta Gardens and then we find out that a "politically-insensitive" Labour MEP owned one. I also remember Dr Sant shouting shame over the development at Pender Place while a Labour MP notary scooped up some Lm35,000 from the alleged "scandalous" contract. Recently, we had the Siġġiewi Labour Party club saga showing Labour's disdain for public property.

This property was bought by the Nationalist government in 1966 and converted it into a civic centre. In 1981, the Labour government of the day, literally on the eve of the 1981 general election, leased out this prestigious property for a pittance to "itself" as a Labour Party club. In 1983, the premises were enlarged and before the 1987 general election, the Labour government extended this infamous lease for a further 24 years.

The lease of the property expires next June and the Siġġiewi local council has applied to open a day care centre for the elderly to be enjoyed by all the residents. But Labour decided that this lovely central property, now valued at more than €1 million, should be enjoyed exclusively by itself.

Those are some examples of Labour's double standards. Now we have the ongoing parliamentary Budget 2010 debate. On the one hand, we have the Minister of Finance explaining that although Malta is weathering the international recession it is definitely not the time to be euphoric as the world economy is still in a very vulnerable position. And, on the other hand, I will bet my last penny that, next Monday, we will have Joseph Muscat screaming shame and scandal!

On November 2, timesofmalta.com reported that Labour's "privileged" partner, the GWU called for a downward revision of tax bands, a downward revision of utility bills, a reduction of VAT on maintenance works and catering establishments and an upward revision of the minimum wage and pensions.

Similarly, Dr Muscat will say that Budget 2010 should have been a "better" one. He will try to shame the government for not lowering taxes and for not dishing out goodies. He will criticise the government for the rising deficit. He will conveniently ignore the government's intervention to save 2,500 jobs in specialised factories and industries and more. He will certainly not refer to the fact that, in spite of the global financial crisis, 7,000 new jobs were created and that, till last May, the gainfully occupied in the private sector registered an increase of 1,042.

He will claim that the government has not reached its targets and, yet, he will insist that it should subsidise all and sundry in spite of the rising deficit. To check the rise in the cost of living he will revisit some of his proposals: to reintroduce Labour's archaic bulk-buying system; to fix a maximum rate for our water and electricity consumption and freeze all government tariffs and licences etc... But he will not admit that if he had his way taxpayers will have to foot the bill for the shortfall in revenue. Neither will he propose an alternative way of whipping up the "lost" revenue these measures will create. He will vehemently criticise the power station plant and insinuate that there is corruption lurking in every corner.

The leader of the party who was against low-cost airlines will insist that the government is abandoning tourism and ignore the sacrosanct truth that the government has increased the sector's advertising budget and is already susbidising 30,000 families and industry as far as energy consumption goes.

Alleging that the government has mislaid its social soul and is being insensitive to the people's needs, he will definitely not be telling us that, in social benefits alone, the government has forked out €354 million in the first six months of this year, a €22 million increase over last year.

Dr Muscat will also pick on Mater Dei Hospital and the blessed waiting lists. Of course, he will not brag about the 19,151 operations performed in the first six months of this year, an increase of 1,432 compared to the same period last year. He will not reveal the record number of 35,975 operations performed last year and the 350,057 visits to the out-patient department.

Neither will he boast that the emergency department treated 106,907 patients and that 178,885 scans and tests were carried out. He will also overlook the fact that, every year, 100 patients on average used to be sent abroad years for an MRI scan and that now over 5,000 patients have benefited from this new service in the comfort of their country. He will neglect to mention the ongoing breast screening programme and many other new "free" medicines offered to chronic disease patients.

He will go on and on labelling the government incompetent and unstable and toss other insults into the mix. He will suggest corruption. He might even call for a resignation or two. There is only one appeal I can make to Dr Muscat for his speech next Monday: Be sincere about the state of the world economy and bear the country's interest in mind in each and every word you utter.