Parliamentary Secretary Deborah Schembri defended the ‘autonomy’ of the new Lands Authority which is to replace the Commissioner of Lands following the Gaffarena debacle.

In a presentation on a Bill setting up the authority, which will be discussed in Parliament tomorrow, Dr Schembri said that the majority of members on the authority's board of governors and its CEO would be appointed by the government.

Asked how she could call the new authority independent when this was the case, Dr Schembri said the government would only give "strategic direction" to the board but would not interfere in the day to day decisions.

She said that the authority would also have an internal auditor who could only be removed by a majority in Parliament.

However, Dr Schembri said that the auditor could be removed by a simple majority and not by two-thirds as in the case of the general auditor and the Ombudsman.

Dr Schembri said that while, until now, all decisions taken at the lands department had to be endorsed by the minster, the government was now making sure that the politician was at arm’s length from decisions regarding government property.

She said that all applications would have to be transparent and the public would be given more access to information, similar to the current system adopted by the Planning Authority.

Dr Schembri said that although she had passed on the proposed Bill to the Opposition more than a month ago, no feedback on the proposed changes had as yet been given.

In a presentation, architect Robert Musumeci, who advised the government on the Bill, said the Opposition and the government would each have a member on the board.

He said the board of governors would have to inform the minister of any investigation conducted on any wrongdoing at the authority.

The chairman of the board of governors would be chosen by the Prime Minister.