After a transition period of around 20 years, only electric cars should be allowed for private use in Malta, Alternattiva Demokratika said, as it unveiled its electoral manifesto.
It also called for all suitable buildings to be installed with photovoltaic panels and solar water heaters.
The environment features extensively in the electoral manifesto released today by the Green Party, a 35-page document split into various chapters.
AD once again insisted that the illegal boathouses in Armier and St Thomas Bay should be demolished and that Parliament should take back Manoel Island and Fort Manoel so that they can be enjoyed by the public.
An alternative vote is a clean vote
Carrying the slogan 'An alternative vote is a clean vote' these are some of the proposals made in the manifesto:
• The electoral system should be tweaked to make sure a party which got more than 2.5 per cent of the votes would get parliamentary representation.
• Development proposals should be rejected in areas which have a high density of vacant buildings, unless the project restores or regenerates the buildings.
• The President of Malta should not be elected by parliament alone but by all the members of parliament and the elected mayors of the 68 councils.
• Persons of trust should be limited to the private secretariat of holders of political office.
• MPs should be full-timers not only because of the amount of parliamentary work but also because this would prevent any conflict of interest created by their work.
• The environment should be protected by the Constitution and the courts must have the power to oblige the state to react when it fails to do so – or when it reacts too slowly.
• Policies should be reviewed to substantially reduce unjustifiable development in the countryside.
• A Noise Abatement Act should be introduced to control any type of noise and to ensure enforcement.
• By 2025, all large vehicles should be limited to those run on sustainable biofuels.
• There should be incentives to increase the use of pedelecs, as well as for a suitable infrastructure.
• The larger schools should be broken into smaller ones to ensure that children do not remain just a number.
• Profit motives should not supersede the needs of public health as privatisation of the health service will not necessarily provide better care for patients or a better use of public finances.
AD officials outside parliament last Saturday.• Drug abuse should not be seen as a matter of public order but rather as something that has social roots with medical consequences.
• Cannabis should be made legal and it should be possible to buy it from suitably screened, licensed outlets, subject to the same taxes as cigarettes and tobacco.
• New economic sectors should be developed to reduce Malta’s dependence on vulnerable sectors like gaming and financial services which rely on a tax competitive status and could easily disappear.
• Financial regulators, especially the MFSA, need to be more independent, with the boards appointed by Parliament and not by the government, with definite terms which are preferably not renewable, and with their removal only by a majority of two-thirds.
• Incentives are needed to help farmers sell their products directly to consumers, such as through more farmers’ markets and more agritourism venues.
• Fish farms should be relocated and subjected to greater monitoring and enforcement. Tuna farms should have stricter quotas.
• AD is against an airport in Gozo but in favour of a helicopter service linking the two islands. It is against the tunnel because of its environmental and social impact but in favour of a fast ferry from Gozo to the Grand Harbour, Sliema and Sa Maison, as well as other possible places.