The Budget, gender identity and drug decriminalisation were among the topics discussed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this morning when he was interviewed on One Radio.

Asked what people should expect from the Budget, Dr Muscat said they should expect the government to continue building on what had already been achieved.

Results showed that the government was headed in the right direction and although problems remained, progress was being made.

The Budget, he said, would continue to implement the electoral manifesto and would include an unprecedented number of incentives for the public and private sectors to work together

Dr Muscat pointed out that unemployment was at the lowest it had ever been in history and the government was to continue working to create jobs for people who wanted to work.

The question that had to be asked, Dr Muscat said, was whether today’s Malta was better than it was a year-and-a-half ago. The people believed it was.

Asked about the gender identity legislation, Dr Muscat said that the government was giving more human rights. Once the law was approved, he said, Malta would have the most progressive legislation in Europe.

Some people believed that the rights of transsexuals and homosexuals were not human rights. The government believed that people who thought in this manner had not understood anything.

The Opposition was seeing loopholes in the law but this showed that its MPs’ heart was not in the matter and they did not have a position on the law.

The government, on the other hand, was unanimous and did not bat an eyelid.

The government would also be courageously heading towards decriminalising drugs.

“As a father I know that the decisions we take now will affect my children in eight to 10 years time.”

Dr Muscat said that there had to be an environment that was kind with victims but harsh with traffickers. A system that understood reality and educated.

The court, he said, should be there for criminals and not for victims.

“We have to change our mind set and this is a major challenge we are willing to move ahead on,” he said.

The Prime Minister referred to the Opposition’s claim that the regasification unit was a waste of money since there was going to be a gas pipeline and said that this provided the country with a fall-back position as required by EU directives and common sense.

He noted that in the case of an accident affecting the pipeline, the country would have to wait seven weeks for the repair ship to come over.

The Prime Minister also spoke about the tax refund to be given to companies donating more than €2,000 to the Community Chest Fund and said that if the measure was successful, it would be extended to other organisations in future.

During the interview, Dr Muscat called on the Opposition to publish its party accounts for the past 25 years to show the people who had donated where their money had gone.