A large number of Maltese citizens resident in Australia, particularly those who had signed the petition presented to the Maltese Parliament on January 29 by the Leader of the Opposition, Simon Busuttil, were shocked at the behaviour of Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella, who chose not to listen to the introduction presented by Dr Busuttil and who was caught laughing allegedly at some joke shared with one of his parliamentary colleagues.

Dr Vella’s ‘point of order’ clarification that he was not even considering what Dr Busuttil was saying and that there was no need to table the petition, as he was already aware of it and what it called for, simply added insult to injury.

Dr Vella’s conduct was particularly surprising, having regard to the fact that the minister is the ‘ex-officio’ chairman of the Council for Maltese Living Abroad.

If the minister had no time to listen to the presentation, one can only imagine how much personal interest he has for issues affecting overseas resident Maltese.

We believe that the minister should seriously consider making a public apology for his conduct, which in our view shows a lack of respect for overseas residents of Maltese background.