Opposition leader Simon Busuttil this evening branded the Budget as a cover-up. Speaking in Parliament he said the Budget hid the government's lack of economic direction and sought to create a smoke-screen over its failures.

In other points he hit out at the pay given to Labour MPs for their various posts. He also listed abuses by ministers and Labour  MPs and said the prime minister had lost his moral authority by repeatedly showing himself weak when faced by abuse.

He referred to the rebate on school transport and called for free transport for all students in Church and private schools, as is the case for state schools.

He also described the plans for a Gozo bridge as environmentally shameful. 

COVER UP

In his two-hour address, Dr Busuttil said the Budget had achieved two records. It was the longest, and it was the one which was most quickly forgotten. Two days after the Budget speech, the people were not speaking about the government’s Budget, but about the government.

The people were angry and disgusted by the prime minister and the ministers because they had seen their masks fall. What they were seeing was very different from what they had been made to see before the general election.
This was a prime minister who had promised Malta Taghna Lkoll. He had promised to work with everyone; he said he would resign if the power station was not built within two years.

Now the Budget was a new cover-up which created a smoke-screen over the truth. It tried to mask the lack of economic direction, it tried to mask the fact that the Labour government had lost the social plot and it tried to hide the government’s squandering of public funds.

The Budget's biggest failures were that it would not lead to the creation of new areas of economic activity, and it did not yield fair distribution of wealth.

It was not good enough for the government to continue to build on what it found. It needed to build further and give long-term economic direction to the country. But the Budget showed no new ideas, no new areas of economic activity.

Furthermore, the government was ignoring warning signs (not warning shots, he said).

Dr Busuttil said that under Labour, public debt had spiked by a record €500 million between March 2013 and last June. Imports,and particularly exports, had slumped. Exports had seen the sharpest decline in the EU.

Industrial production had declined consistently since Joseph Muscat became prime minister. Yet the Budget gave hardly any incentives to help manufacturing industry.

True, the ratings agencies had confirmed Malta’s ratings, although he had actually expected to see an improvement, But Ernst and Young had noted that investors’ long term confidence had declined. Malta had also gone backwards in the Competitiveness Index of the World Bank and Corruption Perception Index.
Retail trade was also down consistently, something which shop owners could confirm.

The only new thing which the government had come up with was the sale of passports.

An area which was doing well was tourism, yet the Budget was doing nothing to bring about further progress. 

Official figures issued today showed a drop in unemployment, which was good, but the statistics masked the fact that this government had engaged 4,400 people of whom only 1,500 replaced those who had retired. No wonder unemployment decreased. Such recruitment would add €36 million to the government's wage bill every year.

SCHOOL TRANSPORT SHOULD BE FREE FOR EVERYONE

This government had promised a more efficient bus service, yet, Dr Busuttil said, after two years, the service was worse. The service was stopping earlier, the summer schedule never came into force and punctuality had gone overboard. Any yet, next year the bus subsidy would rise to €23 million from €10 under Arriva. No one even knew how much was being spent this year.

It was no perception that traffic congestion had become worse. An improvement was promised with the removal of bendy buses. But traffic increased.  

This, Dr Busuttil said, was an economic cost for the country and the people expected a solution.

The government in the Budget announced a €150 tax rebate to parents who used school transport for their children in private schools. But, Dr Busuttil said, this was not enough. 

In the same way as state schools had free transport, the government should consider the same for independent and church schools.

SERIOUS PROBLEMS IN THE NEW PARLIAMENT

Dr Busuttil hit out at 'incompetence' by the government over the new parliament, saying the new Chamber could not even open at the end of the year. A major problem had resulted in that the space between the seats and the desks was so tiny, no one could stand and much work was needed to remedy the situation.

AIR MALTA

Dr Busuttil said Air Malta was vital for the country. It had deviated from its restructuring plan. The chairman was replaced three times, the management was in constant change, and 300 new people had been taken on. Government interference was major, and it would be costly for the airline and the country.

THE POWER STATION

It was shame, Dr Busuttil said, that the Finance Minister in his four hour speech found time for everything but to spell out when the project would be started and completed.

If the government was able to finance the reduced power tariffs without a new power station, why did it want to build it? Malta would end up with surplus energy capacity and the government would end up, for 18 years, buying electricity at rates which were twice as high as European rates. What sense was this? Where was financial viability?

The prime minister had promised to resign if the power station was not completed on time. But obviously the power station would not be ready on time, and the prime minister would not keep his word. 

VAT REGISTRATION 

Dr Busuttil criticised the government for reintroducing the requirement for people to register for VAT even if their income was below €7,000. This was the exact opposite of the promise to reduce bureaucracy. 

GOZO BRIDGE DESIGN 'A DISGRACE'

When he spoke on Gozo, Dr Busuttil said it appeared that the government had scrapped its promise for a fast ferry service between Gozo and Grand Harbour, but plans for a bridge had been prepared by a Chinese company which was blacklisted by the World Bank.

The Opposition was in favour of a permanent link between Malta and Gozo and its preference was for a tunnel if financially feasible. But the bridge designs published yesterday were an environmental disgrace which would spoil one of the best areas of Malta and Gozo.

COVER-UP IN THE SOCIAL SECTOR

Dr Busuttil said it was not true that the government had helped those most in need in the Budget. The cost of living adjustment, at 58c, was an insult and the lowest since the wage freeze in the 1980s. The once-only €35 bonus for the workers was another insult. 

The increases in car licences and insurances were enough to eat into that increase.  And the people would continue to pay fuel prices which were way above what they should be. Under the former government, when international prices were as they are now, petrol was 22c per litre cheaper. 

Even the tax on car wheels has increased - by 70c per kilo.

It was ironic that this was being done while the prime minister was paid €7,000 by the government to use his own car.

Taxes had been increased on wines, mobile phones and cement. It was no wonder that under this government, those at risk of poverty were increasing.

Dr Busuttil observed that the government was projecting a tax revenue increase of almost €500,000 this year, with the only tax cut in this Budget having been the one projected by the PN. Nothing was said about tax cuts on dividends though.

This was a government which even increased the rents on social housing.

Dr Busuttil insisted that those who relied on social benefits were not thieves.

He said the way capital gains had changed was such that it would cause problems for particular sectors, such as separating couples and those businesses who failed.

ELDERLY WORSE OFF

The elderly, Dr Busuttil said, were worse off under this government than under the PN. The PN had carried out an exercise using the same criteria as used by Caritas in 2012. At the time a weekly purchase for an elderly couple cost €50. The bill had now risen to €81. So much for the supposed 'socialist' government.

Staring his conclusion, Dr Busuttil said the government was consistently moving from one blunder to another, which belied its promises of good governance, honesty, openness and correct behaviour.

One expected the law to be applied equally to everyone and that the independent institutions did not allow themselves to be hijacked.  But many people thought that that by being in the Labour government, they could do what they liked. Clientelism and nepotism were rampant, with people going to ministers for anything, from jobs to medicines.

The institutions were being filled by people whose interest was to defend the government, not the people. Almost all the Labour MPs now had more than one salary from the state. Some had four or more.

GENEROUS SALARIES FOR LABOUR MPS

Instead of addressing MPs' pay as the former government tried to do, the government gave its MPs posts on government bodies. Silvio Parnis was getting €42,000, Luciano Busuttil 45,000; Charles Buagiar 50,000; Anthony Agius Decelis, €57,000, almost as much as the prime minister. Carmelo Abela was getting €60,000. The cherry on the cake was MP Silvio Schembri who, through his various government posts, was getting €65,000.

And then Dr Muscat had spent five years criticising the former government over the €500 a week given to ministers.

Dr Muscat had asked for a report on MPs' salaries. The report, by the Ombudsman, was penned six months ago but kept in the prime minister's drawer. Would he publish it now?

Several MPs, Dr Busuttil said, were abusing of their position, For example, Dr Luciano Busuttil, as declared by a court, had a conflict of interest, having, at the same time, advised Cospicua local council and a bidder for a council contract. The court had referred the case to the Commission for the Administration of Justice, and the prime minister had done nothing.

In a separate case, it had been revealed that Luciano Busuttil had requested to see all the tenders to be awarded by the Malta Sports Council, which he chaired. This never happened before.

In a separate case, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici had dragged his feet over the impeachment of Judge Farrugia Sacco, thus allowing his friend time to retire. This was also the minister who had wanted to postpone the local elections.

Dr Bonnici had also been involved in a collision in which a person was injured. The minister was taken to court but had not even bothered to resign until the case was resolved. He had appeared before a Magistrate who depended on the minister for promotion. This was political indecency, but Dr Muscat acted like nothing had happened.

Helena Dalli, the minister for equal opportunities, thought she could do whatever she wished, including works on her property in violation of a Mepa enforcement order. And she remained a minister. All animals were equal, but some were more equal than others.

Turning to minister Konrad Mizzi, Dr Busuttil said it was obscene how he had made his wife an ambassador with €13,000 a month. Incidentally what was Mrs Mizzi doing in China, how many jobs had she created in Malta?  

Transport Minister Joe Mizzi had engaged his sister in law, as a cleaner. But more seriously, even before the bidder for the bus service was chosen, he violated the rules by meeting the Spanish bidders.

Chris Cardona, the minister for economic services, had a lot to answer for over the casino licences contract. Last year he was criticised by the Auditor over the choice of lawyers for a contract. Now serious questions were being asked about how  Eden Leisure was awarded a casino licence when it had the fourth best offer. The best bid was €3 million more generous. So why had the Eden Leisure bid been accepted? And why had Dr Cardona stopped the technical committee handling this contract?

Such questions were undermining the government's business credentials, Dr Busuttil said. And the prime minister did nothing.

MANUEL MALLIA

On Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia, Dr Busuttil said this was a minister who claimed €500,000 under his bed came from the sale of a property, which was untrue. 

Under this minister, people had been taken to court when they should not have, and others were not taken to court when they should have. And inquiry reports were still under wraps.

One could easily remember how the police under Dr Mallia handled the John Dalli case. And why were the Farrugia brothers not taken to court over the oil procurement scandal, as the police had planned to do? Was it, maybe, because Dr Mallia had been their legal adviser?

Last week's shooting incident involving the minister's driver was shocking.This case was symptomatic of the mentality that if one was part of the government, one could do what one wanted. 

It was the prime minister who had fanned this mentality. It was a disgrace that there were blatant lies by the authorities to cover up this case. There were lies in official statements, the car itself was moved before the inquiry, and, to add insult to injury, the minister's driver had still not been arrested and arraigned. Instead it was his target who was arrested.

The prime minister was repeatedly showing himself to be weak in the face of abuse.  The government was built on a series of lies and the prime minister had lost his credibility and moral authority.

Dr Busuttil said he would not promise all things to everyone, but he would promise honesty, because ultimately, it was truth that prevailed, Is-Sewwa jirbah zgur.

PRIME MINISTER'S REACTION

In an initial reaction, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said Dr Busuttil had attacked every sector and not found anything with which to encourage the people.

Dr Busuttil, however, did not speak on education and on health other than about hospital concrete. He had not mentioned the current waiting lists or out of stock medicines.  

Dr Busuttil had shown he did not grasp the basic concepts of the economy and had not appreciated the unprecedented fight against benefit fraud.

He was only interested in defending the legacy of the former government.

Asked by journalists about the Manuel Mallia case, particularly who had fed the Department of Information wrong information, Dr Muscat said he could not reply as those were DOI procedures he did not know about. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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