The government agreed with the principle of a public domain law safeguarding the natural and cultural heritage and would work with the Opposition on the best way forward, Economic Growth Parliamentary Secretary José Herrera said.
Though agreeing with the “idea”, that was first put forward by the Nationalist government in December 2012, Dr Herrera said the Opposition regurgitated the same concept last week, passing it off as a new initiative.
Last week, justice shadow minister Jason Azzopardi said the Opposition was presenting a Bill regulating the government’s administration of common heritage. By law, public domain includes the seabed and subsoil, the coastal perimeter and the foreshore.
The Bill proposes that other areas could be listed as public domain including valleys, squares, woods, forts, nature reserves and even cultural artefacts. It proposes that land in the public domain can also be declassified for use in the public interest but would be subject to parliamentary scrutiny before any such decision is taken.
I’d like to think that we can agree on the principle that the government cannot do what it likes with its property
The government remained silent when asked whether it endorsed the Opposition’s Bill, which was widely praised by environmental groups.
Dr Herrera said yesterday he could not tell whether government MPs would vote in favour of the Bill because that was a decision to be taken by the parliamentary group. However, he added, the government agreed with the principles outlined in the Bill even through the Opposition “jumped the gun” in presenting it.
It was public knowledge that the government was working on incorporating a law on public domain as part of the Integrated Maritime Policy, which had been in the pipeline since 2007.
He had been working on such a policy for the past eight months and the document was planned to be launched soon.
Dr Herrera added that, when Dr Azzopardi formed part of the Nationalist Cabinet and was responsible for public land, he had appointed experts to draw up a White Paper on the subject in December 2012. A Bill had been presented but it did not make it through Parliament because of a change in government.
Now he had “cut and paste” that White Paper, which was commissioned by the government and, therefore, belonged to the government. Having said that, he added, he was open to discussion with the Opposition to reach an agreement for the country’s benefit.
Asked whether the agreement would be based on the Opposition’s Bill or the maritime policy, he said nothing was cast in stone and he was open to discussion in the national interest.
In reaction, Dr Azzopardi said there was no law stopping an MP from presenting a Bill that had already been presented. Besides, he had made it clear that the Bill was based on the 2012 White Paper.
Since most of the public domain space was on land, he failed to understand how it could form part of a maritime policy.
He added that neither he nor the NGOs were aware of the public domain aspect of the maritime policy and questioned why the government had taken over a week to react.
Dr Azzopardi welcomed Dr Herrera’s invitation to discuss the issue further.
“I don’t want to get bogged down in political bickering. I’d like to think that we can agree on the principle that the government cannot do what it likes with its property,” he said.