Call for appointment of Family Commissioner

Labour MP Leo Brincat has called for the appointment of a Family Commissioner concurrent with the permanent Parliamentary Committee for Family Affairs as proposed by the opposition.

The Family Commissioner, who would have to enjoy the trust of both sides of the House, had to see that certain measures in favour of the family were implemented. The commissioner would take a true picture of the post-modern family and with expert help would try to look into future trends.

As regarded the committee for family affairs, Mr Brincat said that this should not be an extension of the Social Affairs Committee because it had to address and analyse issues that did not form part of the SAC remit. This included economic issues.

He believed that the opposition motion was a step in the right direction and augured that the government would not try to dilute it.

Mr Brincat said he had expected the government to take the initiative on strengthening the family two years ago after the publication of an international report by the child well-being and child poverty action group, which classified Malta in the last place among the EU with two other European states.

The report lacked certain information about Malta because this was not provided by the authorities. The comparative study considered 43 criteria including social exclusion. Malta also classified among the lowest countries with regard the subjective well-being.

Although the report referred to 2006 statistics, the situation might be worse today. Malta had fared worse than Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuania, but the government had not taken any action. Strengthening children’s lives and well-being were to be at the centre of any policy on the family and the young.

Mr Brincat said the proposed committee would have to look into issues of child protection, the operative element in adoption laws, and problems faced by families wanting to foster children. It also had to look at whether government agencies such as Appoġġ had enough financial and human resources to carry out their work effectively. Other issues included domestic violence, suicide among young people, bullying, alcoholism and drug abuse, and the failure of students not finishing their secondary education.

Other issues had to focus on housing problems due to the fact that the government had failed to provide social housing. There were also families and children who were victims of gambling.

Concrete action, and not theoretical strategic plans, were needed. One had to acknowledge that poverty was a reality and one had to start addressing it. Better free counselling services had to be provided and a family support agency with proper resources and financial means had to be provided. A technical and scientific definition had to be given to the poverty line and to homeless families. He called on the government to take action on cases of poverty raised by NGOs.

The local media had always linked poverty with pensioners and housewives. NSO statistics published four years ago had linked poverty and poverty risk with pensioners and children. Poverty was often also linked to social, educational, financial and cultural factors.

Present trends in the standard of living showed that the middle class was declining and was becoming financially insecure and vulnerable.

Mr Brincat criticised PBS’s farmed-out programmes which linked poverty to sensationalism, providing superficial and commercial solutions. State broadcasting had to address this issue objectively and realistically.

Calling on the media to be responsible, he said that programmes on other channels played on people’s emotions where family problems were concerned. This sector did not need charity but proper structures that helped it to move forward. It was therefore important to increase collaboration with NGOs which were often the intermediaries between the individual and the state. Experts on family matters claimed there were hundreds of homeless individuals. He personally knew of single mothers who had to share an apartment with other families. There were also refugee families living in poverty.

Mr Brincat said family-friendly measures had to go beyond the promotion of equality. Issues which dealt with the family included employment, health, family life, leisure and education. One had to strike a balance between work and family life. There was concern on conservative and regressive attitudes on the extension of parental leave, the low women’s employment rate and the fact that certain social groupings could not afford childcare services.

There was the need to close the gap between the public and private sectors on family-friendly measures.

Mr Brincat said the EU emphasised the need of striking a balance between work and family life, adding that the moral and healthy well-being of families and children should be at the centre of political action.