With really strong families, Malta should not be unduly worried about separation or divorce, but the current precarious state of marriage and family was all down to the government’s inaction over the years to help couples prepare for marriage, shirking its responsibilities and relying on the Church, Labour MP Anthony Zammit told Parliament yesterday.
To make matters worse, in spite of the rhetoric on the family being the nucleus of society, the government was using it as the pocket of society, placing unbearable burdens on the parents and not leaving them enough time for each other or the children.
Prof. Zammit said the opposition’s motion took on even more relevance after the referendum result, and one could not understand how and why the government was prepared to set up only a sub-committee to deal with the strengthening of the family.
All this was happening when the rate of separations had gone up in the last 10 years and become rampant in the last five. And yet the government had never asked why this was happening and what needed to be done.
A report by the House Social Affairs Committee had already said that 20 per cent of Maltese children, the future of Malta, were living in relative poverty. But the government kept closing its ears and bulldozing over families’ needs.
Prof. Zammit said the government was more intent on squandering taxpayers’ money in projects that meant nothing for the people. But last weekend the people had clearly shown they wanted to move forward in democracy and show solidarity with those who had family problems.
The government’s actions and inaction were creating huge psychological and financial stress on parents, with negative effects on children who could sense early on – much before the parents separated – that something was badly wrong but could not immediately understand what. Then psychological problems crept in, with resultant lack of progress in education possibly being part of the reason for illiteracy.
Hospital appointments were given for more than a year away, even to treat cancer. This meant that families had to go badly out of pocket, coupled with buying out-of-stock medicines and repaying bank loans at times of job uncertainty.
Prof. Zammit said the motion was one of substance and importance because the opposition was close to Maltese families. The family framework influenced upbringing and had lasting effects in adulthood.
The Church would not be discouraged from preparing couples for marriage, but the government must work hand in hand with it. Family-friendly measures must be taken more seriously and continue to be enhanced because they still bore no comparison with those in other countries.
The country needed a permanent committee on the family while the university’s Family Institute needed more resources. Why shouldn’t the Children’s Commissioner be an apolitical person? More studies were needed to draft a national plan centred around family needs, with clear and fluid policies. The government was there for the family, not vice-versa. Family concerns must be given full voice in the House, and this could only be done with a full-fledged committee for family affairs to guide the highest institution towards better cognisance of the problems facing families, Prof. Zammit said.