Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this afternoon that the PN’s three political priorities in the first months of this year are the high prices being paid by the people for petrol and diesel, the dignity of patients at Mater Dei Hospital and the lack of transparency in public contracts.
Speaking at a press conference at PN headquarters, he also touched on the Spring hunting referendum saying that the prime minister had acted with haste when deciding on the date when it was the President, according to law, who should have done so.
The Opposition, he said, welcomed the referendum decision, having been behind the Referendum Act of 1995. The prime minister had tried to postpone this year's local council elections in attempt to have a low turnout.
Dr Busuttil with shadow ministers Marthese Portelli (energy) Jason Azzopardi (justice) and Claudette Buttigieg (health)The PN leader said that the party has started an internal debate on its position, and would communicate its decision at the end of the debate. The internal discussion would start this week and the aim was to have a decision as soon as possible but did not give a particular date.
Asked on his personal position on the referendum, he said that the PM had acted with haste expressing his personal belief. "I will first allow the internal debate to take place, before pronouncing myself, he said
Dr Busuttil said the PN wanted to make a difference in the people’s everyday lives, hence the three priorities which had been chosen for the near future.
He said the prime minister was seriously mistaken if he thought that he could deceive the people by reducing fuel costs by 1c or 2c when international oil prices had dived.
The government, he said, was ‘stealing’ from the people when it continued to impose high prices at the pump. When one excluded taxes, local prices of petrol and diesel were the highest in the European Union. When taxes were considered, the diesel price was the third highest and that of petrol was the fourth highest.
This meant that the government was not passing on to motorists the savings from cheaper oil prices, as the former PN government used to do.
“Should you put €30 worth of petrol in the tank per week, the governemnt would be robbing you €10, while, if one uses €30 of diesel, the governemnt would be robbing you of €12, almost half the cost,” Dr Busuttil said.
This was something which was totally unacceptable. He said the PN would be pressing the governemnt to reduce local prices in line with the international prices.
Turning to the dignity of patients, Dr Busuttil said the situation in Mater Dei was a sorry one. Despite Labour pre-election promises of a road map and an immediate plan of action about the bed shortage and patients in hospital corridors, the situation had actually deteriorated.
Patients, he said, were lacking privacy and basic facilities and doctors and nurses could not work as they needed to. In some areas, men and women shared the same corridors and wards. The PN, he said, would be revealing the government’s incompetence and pressing it to take action in this area too to ensure that patients got the dignity they expected.
Dr Busuttil also complained that Malta had returned to the times when the governemnt considered certain information as not being in the interests of the people.The government was continuing to hide important documents and contracts, defying the norms of democracy. Among the were the deal between Enemalta and Shanghai Electric, the governemnt and Electrogas, oil purchasing contracts, the contract with Henley and Partners, the report on ministerial and MPs’ pay, an number of inquiry reports.