The Nationalist Party’s parliamentary Whip David Agius has defended the poor attendance record of Nationalist MP Stephen Spiteri but Labour Whip Joe Mizzi described his behaviour as “unacceptable”.
Dr Spiteri was promoted to parliamentary assistant within the Family and Education Ministry last year but has missed 81 per cent of parliamentary sittings since January. Claiming his day job as a doctor kept him too busy to attend Parliament regularly, Dr Spiteri on Sunday alleged that other MPs simply mark themselves as present and leave.
Mr Agius backs his claim, saying this has been happening for ages. “The rule is that whoever enters Parliament is marked present, whether they stay for three hours or one minute. I don’t change the rules... unless there’s agreement from both sides.” Although he said it was everyone’s responsibility to spend as much time in Parliament as possible, he argued that MPs did not have to be in the Parliament chamber to follow matters.
“They can hear it from home, on the internet or radio, or in their room in Parliament... In my opinion, as a whip, if he’s here whenever I tell him to be here, I am satisfied,” Mr Agius said, adding that Dr Spiteri was always present when he was asked to participate at committee meetings, adjournments or to make other important contributions.
He also pointed out that parliamentary assistants, like all MPs, had various roles, including engaging with the media, writing articles, travelling and so on.
“If there’s a Bill that does not interest him at all and he is not present, that is his responsibility.”
Mr Agius argued that MPs should be full-timers but some people had always objected to this – particularly those who did not want to lose their professions. As things stand, MPs receive a “token” honorarium of €19,100, while parliamentary assistants get €6,000 extra.
“I think a whole analysis has to be done, it’s not a question of just seeing who attended and who did not. It’s also a question of how much they work,” Mr Agius said, adding that MPs were always marked as absent, even if they were abroad on official business, sick or had a very good excuse.
Labour whip Joe Mizzi responded to Dr Spiteri’s claims that MPs just clocked in and left by asking: “How does he know what MPs do if he is not at Parliament? Part of your responsibilities as an MP is to attend Parliament.”
He said it was simply unacceptable to miss 80 per cent of sittings and no excuses were sufficient – even more so if one was a parliamentary assistant.
“If you are given duties, you must fulfil them, not find excuses,” he said.
Asked if he believed all Labour MPs attended Parliament regularly Mr Mizzi said: “I think everyone must shoulder their own responsibilities. But ultimately, I believe all MPs should do their parliamentary duties, from whichever side of the House.”
Would he take action against MPs if he saw that they missed 80 per cent of sittings?
“The public should see what goes on in Parliament and then decide whom to elect and not to elect. The public makes the decisions, not me. If the public sees someone is not doing their work, they should take action.”
Mr Mizzi added that this incident showed that the role of parliamentary assistants was created simply to silence disgruntled backbenchers by appeasing them with media prominence.
“This is all it is. In substance, these roles are not bearing fruit. The ministers have not become any more efficient.”