Finance Minister Edward Scicluna says "dead wood" in the public sector has to be removed as the Government moves to trim unnecessary expenditure.
It was the second time in a week that Prof. Scicluna harped on the importance of cutting costs by changing practices that may be irrelevant to today's needs.
Speaking at a business breakfast as part of the pre-Budget consultation period, Prof. Scicluna told representatives of non-governmental organizations, businesses and unions that a spending review will be conducted across the board.
"We will also look at the politically sensitive areas as well but unless we change we will continue with hospital queues and children without LSAs," he said.
Highlighting one example of looking at things from a different perspective, he noted that there were schools in prime sites that were half empty because of falling student populations.
"There are powerful forces pushing to continue doing things as we have always done. But we cannot allow this to continue. We can cut expenditure and it requires training that we are currently undertaking with people in the public service," he said.
The first time Prof. Scicluna spoke of expenditure cuts this week was at a meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.
Prof. Scicluna's emphasis on the comprehensive spending review was welcomed by Vince Farrugia, GRTU director general, who urged him to be "bold" and remain "first and foremost an economist and not become a politician".
"I welcome the fact that for the first time we have a finance minister who is a professional economist because we have often spoken of the economy with your predecessors but ended up with political compromises," Mr Farrugia said.
But symbolic of the balancing act the finance minister has to perform, Commissioner for Equality Renee Laiviera cautioned against cuts that may hurt the more vulnerable.
She said that any expenditure reviews, even if unintentional, may have a bigger impact on the vulnerable categories of society and so great care had to be taken at planning stage.
In other contributions General Workers' Union general secretary Tony Zarb highlighted precarious jobs as an issue of concern while Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association president Tony Zahra spoke of a skills mismatch in the job market.
The two clashed briefly over the issue of precarious jobs in the tourism sector with Mr Zarb accusing hoteliers of employing foreigner on the cheap without paying them for work done during a trial period. Mr Zahra insisted low wages, as long as they were within legal parameters, did not constitute precarious jobs. "There are legal or illegal practices and we are against illegal practices," Mr Zahra said.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com