A new Labour government would shoulder burdens with the people and distribute the country’s wealth to the people, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning.

Closing the party’s general conference, Dr Muscat spoke on an array of subjects including divorce, a permanent Malta-Gozo link, IVF and pensions. He said he did not change just for the sake of change.

“We want change because we have a project which goes farther than an election, which is after all simply a day of crucial choice for the country.”

The new government had to be one which believes in the major changes the country needed. A choice that had to be made is that between reactionary ideas or progressive policy.

“We cannot do the cardinal mistake of believing things will be done on their own,” he said.

Dr Muscat said that the movement had again acquired ambition, and it was aiming farther and higher.

Irrespective of how they voted in the last election, the people felt deceived.

The Labour leader said that some believed that the movement would inherit a situation that was worse than it had been in the 1970s.

“If this is the case, we will give better results than we had given in the 1970s. Our priority will be social mobility,” he said.

The Nationalist Party, Dr Muscat said, had lost its vision and direction and most of the country’s current problems were the result of this.

The PL movement wanted to make Malta the best in Europe, with a new middle class with social mobility which respected the economy, the social sector and the environment.

The party’s electoral programme would be a five-year roadmap. It would clearly state what its projects would be in the different sectors at the appropriate time and it will keep its promises. It will not only complain about situations, it would also say what a new Labour government would say about them.

ENERGY

Speaking on the energy sector, Dr Muscat pointed out that just eight months ago the government had said that a national gas pipeline was not feasible but it was now saying it was to consider it.

The Prime Minister had also pointed out that the price of gas was going down while that of oil was going up. So why was the government not developing a power station which operated with gas, like the opposition wanted, he asked.

GOZO

On Gozo, the Labour leader said this islamd was for Labour the motor and not the anchor.

Employment in Gozo had to be created for Gozitans. A comprehensive strategy for Gozo was needed.

Labour, he said, had considered a tunnel project for Gozo in the 1970s and it would be in favour after all the studies were carried out for the best type of permanent link to be developed. But decisions could not be imposed and they had to be taken by Gozitans.

He asked how the government would develop a tunnel connecting the two islands in 24 months when it did not manage to build a tunnel at Cirkewwa in 15 years.

CHILDREN

The Labour leader also spoke on children saying the PL wanted children at the centre of its policy.

“We will do what is good for them, we will not do what is not.”

A Labour government would also give the forces of law and order the right to join a union but without right to strike.

PENSIONS

On pensioners, he said that they had to be able to lead a decent life on their pension.

The PL understood the need for a reform, for pensions to be sustainable.

“But we will not take advice from those who carried out a reform which has already failed five years ago. We have to be the voice of moderation and common sense,” he said.

DIVORCE

On divorce, Dr Muscat said that while it would have been easy for him to impose his views in favour of divorce on the other members of the party, this would be going against a value he believed in, that of tolerance for other beliefs. So he was leaving his MPs free to vote according to their conscience.

What he could not understand was how a party could take a position but then tell its MPs to do what they wanted.

IVF

Dr Muscat also spoke on IVF which he said had been without any regulamentation in Malta since it was developed.

He said he not understand why the government wanted to reopen a package on this issue on which members of both sides of the House had agreed.

* * *

During today’s sitting, delegate Mario Farrugia Borg recounted his experience of “conversion” from being a PN local councillor to becoming a PL delegate.

Mr Farrugia Borg, who is also a convert to Islam, said that problems with the PN started when a journalist had seen him taking his oath of office on the Koran.

He said that when he had sent an e-mail to Labour leader Joseph Muscat, asking him if he would have a problem having a Muslim within the Labour Party, Dr Muscat had immediately written back saying that not only was it not a problem, he was very welcome within the PL.

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