The Opposition is to move an amendment to the Party Funding Bill for financial compensation by the state to those political parties which benefit less from the state than others.

PN General Secretary Chris Said explained when speaking in Parliament that the Opposition agreed with the Party Funding Bill in principle, but it would continue to insist that the political parties should be on a level playing field and there should be no discrimination.

At present, he said, this was not the case and the PN was at a significant disadvantage because the Labour Party had benefited handsomely in the past, and was continuing to benefit, from properties passed on to it by Labour governments.

These included properties owned by the state or requisitioned from private owners. One example was Australia Hall, worth €10 million, he said.  But the Labour Party also had a string of party clubs it did not own. For example, the Rabat PL club had actually been built to serve as a community public library, but was then transferred to the PL.

In order to counter this imbalance, he said, the Opposition would move an amendment  which would require each political party to declare in detail the number of public properties it held and how much rent had been paid during that year.

Each party would need to give a summary of what revenue it had received from the renting of bars, restaurants and shops from the operation of that public property and any revenue from activities which took place.

Once the revenue of each party from public properties was worked out, compensation would be given by the state to the other parties in parliament to restore an even playing field. 

Dr Said said the Opposition was prepared to discuss any other alternatives which anybody could propose, but it was acting in line with the constitutional provisions which laid down that there could not be discrimination, and such discrimination could lead to a court case.