A national natural park is being planned for the south of the island, the Prime Minister has announced.

Speaking in Żejtun on the occasion of Worker’s Day, he said the need was being felt to protect open natural areas.

For the second time in a week, Joseph Muscat again referred to plans for a major educational investment in the south too. No details were given on either project.

Dr Muscat said the south could not continue to be left out of the country’s economic growth and it was not right that the only development in the south was of polluting industries.

When mentioning the educational project, he implied there may be controversy over the location when he insisted that “all rules will be respected” and consultations would be held.

We encouraged them to take their investment to the south to create work, work, work

Earlier this week, TVM attributed the investment to the Chicago-based De Paul University, the largest American Catholic university. The national broadcaster said the university would open a campus in Malta for 4,000 students.

The party broke with tradition yesterday and held the activity in the morning rather than the afternoon.

Dr Muscat gave a new definition to the electoral slogan Tagħna Lkoll, Malta for All, saying this meant every part of Malta would benefit from the wealth being generated by the government.

It was within this context that Dr Muscat mentioned the educational investment, saying it was the turn of the south to benefit from job creation projects that veered away from heavy industries.

“We encouraged them to take their investment to the south to create work, work, work for the people on this side of the island,” he said. The triple reiteration of the word “work” was reminiscent of a similar statement by former prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami during the 2003 election campaign.

At this point, he also spoke about the national park, arguing that this showed the government listened to people’s concerns.

“This is a government that has its finger on the nation’s pulse. This is a government that takes decisions,” Dr Muscat said.

His speech was peppered with statements on the economic achievements of the past two years, including growth that was beyond expectation and unemployment that was at its lowest.

However, Dr Muscat acknowledged there were still people who were not making ends meet, others employed in precarious jobs and some who had even lost their job.

“This government will not do as the previous administration did and bury its head in the sand. We will never say poverty is a perception and, while breaking good news, we have to tell others we will continue to work to achieve our aim and create more jobs.”

We have to be strong with those who abuse workers’ rights

Referring to job losses at Pantalesco last week, the Prime Minister said many of the 70 workers who were laid off had found another job and the government would continue trying to find placements for the others.

He noted that private companies had stepped up to offer employment to the axed workers and this was possible because of economic growth.

In a discussion that preceded Dr Muscat’s speech, Labour deputy leader Toni Abela said the time had come to have harsh penalties for those who abused workers’ rights.

“Just as we have hefty punishments for those who shoot protected birds, we have to be strong with those who abuse workers’ rights,” Dr Abela said.

Philip Rizzo, chief executive at the Employment and Training Corporation, lamented the absence of news coverage of the high unemployment rate among disabled people.

He said the news that unemployment had dropped to four per cent was given prominence by the media but insisted 96 per cent of disabled people were without a job.

Mr Rizzo, who has an intellectually-disabled child, said the European average of disabled people out of a job was 45 per cent and Malta had to do much more in this regard.

Without referring to Mr Rizzo’s comment, Dr Muscat said the government would be enforcing the law obliging companies to employ disabled people.

Companies that did not comply would have to pay a fine with the money going into a fund that would finance training for disabled people.

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com