Opposition leader Joseph Muscat’s 51 proposals for a Labour-led government came in for significant scorn yesterday, with three Nationalist Party heavyweights describing them as being “like a Form 5 project”, “‘coming soon’ politics” and Dr Muscat’s “soap bubble”.
Like a Form 5 project
Speaking in Marsascala, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi chided Dr Muscat for the proposals’ vagueness, contrasting the Labour Party’s pledges to what the PN government was doing.
“One of the proposals says that the PL will make tourism a main economic pillar. Isn’t it already one?” Dr Gonzi asked rhetorically, going on to mention this year’s record tourism numbers as well as the Malta Tourism Authority’s €35 million budget for 2012.
The Prime Minister also revisited Dr Muscat’s assertion that Malta was paying €500,000 every day in interest to service its debt. Dr Gonzi admitted this was true but told his audience “what Joseph Muscat doesn’t say is that €1 billion of that debt is due to the shipyards.
“Nor does he mention the €1 million we spend every day on education, €1 million on healthcare or €2.5 million on pensions and social benefits.”
Although the PL “speaks of strengthening stipends”, when education spokesman Evarist Bartolo was minister he had turned stipends into repayable loans, Dr Gonzi said.
The Prime Minister cited some of the government’s achievements, mentioning the 3,112 more workers in full-time employment and almost 3,000 women who had joined the workforce within the past year.
“Last year, while students were celebrating their graduation outside my office in Castille, students in central London were protesting,” Dr Gonzi said to applause.
Dr Gonzi had a special word for Malta’s police force, whom he thanked for their work in easing public transport difficulties during morning rush hours and reiterated the government’s approval of police officers’ right to join a trade union.
Health Minister Joe Cassar redoubled criticism of the PL’s proposals, saying they read “like a Form 5 school project” and that Labour spoke as though government projects could be conjured out of thin air.
The pharmacy of your choice scheme, which allows people to collect free medicines they are entitled to from their local pharmacy, was extended last week and now includes 129 pharmacies.
“The PL thinks projects like the POYC scheme just happen. They don’t know how many meetings and discussions were needed to get things off the ground,” Dr Cassar said.
PN Secretary General Paul Borg Olivier spoke along similar lines. He compared Dr Muscat’s 51 proposals to someone promising to take people to a better place without saying how, where or when they were going to do so.