Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi said yesterday that the Labour Party was seeking the return of Freedom Press, its former property at the Malta Shipbuilding site.
The Labour Party did not maintain Australia Hall and allowed it to fall into ruin
Speaking in Parliament, Dr Azzopardi recalled that in terms of a contract signed in August 1979, Malta Shipbuilding had transferred properties in Pembroke to the Labour Party in exchange for Freedom Press, the site which Labour had in Marsa.
The property given to the PL in Pembroke included the historic Australia Hall.
Dr Azzopardi said that in violation of the contractual obligations, the Labour Party did not maintain Australia Hall and allowed it to fall into ruin. The Land Department, therefore, filed a court case seeking a return of Australia House because it was allowed to become derelict. In a counter claim, the PL said that if it lost Australia Hall, it wanted its old property in Marsa back.
The party is arguing that in terms of the contract, should it lose any right to the Pembroke property, it can request the Marsa property back. Dr Azzopardi said such a request left him breathless.
The PL had first let Australia Hall fall into ruin, in breach of contract conditions, and then it was quoting the same contract and demanding the return of the former Freedom Press property.
He said such a claim made one suspect that nothing had changed in the way the party viewed the use of public property since the 1980s.
It is recalled that in October 2009, the Lands Department had officially requested the PL to carry out repairs on Australia Hall within three months. Since no action was taken, the government initiated legal action to revoke the lease on the grounds that the terms of agreement had been breached because of the building’s poor condition. The PL filed a development application to Mepa to restore the property. It then demanded the return of the Marsa property, which comprises more than 8,800 square metres of office space.
In September 1996, Australia Hall had been scheduled as a Grade I listed building but was downgraded to Grade II in April 1997.
In December 1998, the building was engulfed by flames. The blaze destroyed the corrugated roof and stage area, but the masonry remained practically intact.
Australia Hall dates back to World War I when Malta was converted into a hospital centre and rest area for thousands of the wounded and sick from the Dardanelles campaign.
The Australian Red Cross built Australia Hall as a recreation centre for its co-nationals. In 1998, the PL had sold another Pembroke property, also transferred to it by the government in 1979, to the St Michael Foundation for almost €600,000.