Put simply, voting should be about casting a wish for a better Malta for present and future generations. We should be voting for the common good, not out of personal interest. We should vote for our resources to be managed efficiently and sustainably and for our rights and freedoms to be fully respected. These rights and freedoms include the right to the quiet enjoyment of our areas of recreation, our countryside, our heritage.

Twenty-five per cent of Malta is built up (compared with 10 per cent in other European countries). This high percentage means that we have already lost a huge chunk of our countryside to so-called development. Shouldn’t we have the right to quietly enjoy what is left of our natural heritage without being threatened and disturbed?

This we are not fully free to do right now. Not with a hunting season that extends into the springtime, when birds breed. Not with spent cartridges littering our green and wooded areas. Personally, I do not want to have to tell my nephew that the starlings are asleep when he sees them drop out of the sky. I do not want to have to compete with gunshots when I’m picnicking with my family. And, like so many others, I am tired of seeing RTO signs mushroom around the islands, denying me access to land that is mine as much as anyone else’s.

So my questions to the large political parties are these: can you really afford to please a minority just because it is more vocal and disobedient than the majority? Are you going to wait until some regrettable incident occurs before taking a clear stand on hunting? Can’t you at least keep hunters out of Natura 2000 sites, for non-hunters, that is, the large majority of Maltese citizens, to enjoy these freely and safely? And, finally, don’t you think that education should include making children familiar with their natural heritage and, if so, do you sincerely believe that hunting and nature walks are compatible activities?

I also have a few questions for my fellow voters: can you afford to be complacent about the hijacking of public land? Won’t you stand up for the right of your children to discover their countryside properly? Don’t you think your children’s health and well-being is well worth your vote?

It is crucial for parties and voters alike to get their priorities straight. Educating future generations should not only be about distributing fancy gadgets. There may be no Wifi out on the garigue but it’s there and in other green areas that our kids will find the best connection to what really matters.