Prime minister Joseph Muscat said today that Malta has to become a land of opportunity, a land of equality and a land of innovation.

Concluding the annual general conference of the Labour Party, Dr Muscat said Malta was ready and able to compete to be the best.

It had shed its inferiority complex. The new generation was ambitious in the good sense, he said. This was not a generation that was satisfied just with what it was given. This was a generation which sought new ways to create wealth. 

This was an era of the social networks. One had to defend one's identity not by refusing change and being insular, but by being relevant, by thinking global and by embracing change.

The Maltese had to be reasonable as well as firm, confident in their abilities to make their country a land of opportunity which created good jobs for its people, created the right business environment and made Malta a natural investment destination from all areas of the globe, he said.

This was a era of open governance, a government which listened, cut red tape and cut taxes.

Malta, Dr Muscat said, also had to be a land of equality. Social justice was an important principle. All should have equal access to education, which was why stipends would continue to be raised and personal attention would be given to those who needed it.

Equality meant stamping out poverty and also bringing about more effective equality between men and women, co-education, protection for consumers, and an effective court system which enjoyed the people's respect and reformed victims rather than condemned them to further crime. In this context, one had to take a fresh look at the drugs laws, particularly in the case of first offenders.

Equality also meant new civil liberties so that all were treated in the same way. That was why action had been taken on separation between Church and State, why divorce was introduced and why civil unions were being introduced. This was one of the hardest blows to conservative prejudices, Dr Muscat said to applause.

Time would prove the country right, because it was looking ahead, not backwards.

The health sector was also vital, and important decisions would be taken for long-term solutions and so that patients would not wait in corridors or wait for their medicines. 

He said Malta also needed to be the land of innovation because that attracted  investment.

Malta needed to maximise its potential to come out with ideas and always aim at higher goals, even when calculated risks were needed.

Innovation meant being ahead of the game, even in concepts such as citizenship, which should be used to attract new talent to the island, and a source of €1 billion in new revenue.

Innovation even meant setting new global standards which made others, even in this country, envious.

This government, he said, would achieve a major reform in the electricity system and reduce tariffs substantially.

This, Dr Muscat said, was the vision which emboldened him. It was the country he wanted for his children, he said to a standing ovation and cries of 'Joseph, Joseph'.

He said he was inviting all people of good will to join the government as partners.

He said the anniversaries this year of Freedom Day, EU membership, the Republic and independence, which he described as 'taghna lkoll' were yet another opportunity for change.  

He said good results were being achieved, but the best was still to come for the country.