The Electoral Commission is to discuss a case raised by the Labour Party after a woman recently admitted in court that she had, with ease, been granted an Identity Card using somebody else's name, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning.
Addressing young members of the party, Dr Muscat said this case was shameful and an example of the mediocrity there was in the country. One had to wonder, he said, why the ID cards had been allowed to expire and whether somebody had an interest to delay the renewal process.
PL GENERAL CONFERENCE
Referring to the forthcoming annual conference of the Labour Party, Dr Muscat said the conference would see unprecedented participation by young people, but, he said, the party remained open to all people, of all ages.
This would be a conference where the PL would examine its conscience. The party would take a close look at itself, in the context of the fact that, other than in 1996, it had not achieved a majority at a general election since 1976.
The party needed to consider how best to reach out at those who had no party allegiance, or who felt they did not need to vote.
This conference was a challenge for the party to embrace change so that it could be in a position to lead the country into its best years, Dr Muscat said.
VOTING AGE
Referring to the forthcoming elections for administrative committees to run various hamlets within local councils, Dr Muscat said the PL was calling on the government to extend voter eligibility to those aged 16 (the current voting age is 18).
Dr Muscat noted that in seven years' time, Malta would assume the presidency of the EU. The next government, which could be a Labour government, should see this as a challenge to be the best in Europe and to be ready to grasp the opportunity to show that the Maltese were equal to anyone, and could even be better.
To do that, the idea of mediocrity needed to be shed.
Examples of mediocrity, he said, were how patients on hospital waiting lists ended up having to pay for private care where government-owned equipment was used.
Another example was how the Prime Minister recently showed himself not to know about problems regarding the granting of a contract for an undersea power link to Sicily - when this would be the most important infrastructural project.
The Labour leader asked how the people could trust the government on the utility tariffs when ministers were only now opting to consult employers and industry - after the tariffs had come into force. The mistakes commited last year when the tariffs were raised, were being repeated this year, despite minister Austin Gatt's admission of those mistakes.
But, even worse, despite whatever measures were being taken to ease the impact of the tariffs, the biggest harm had been done because consumer confidence had been badly shaken.
Dr Muscat urged the governemnt to reduce the tariffs and also show it was truly committed to tourism by not going ahead with the accommodation tax.The Labour leader reiterated the party's position against court action being taken against a young editor for allegedly breaking the censorship laws.
Dr Muscat said the PL remained the party of the poor. He hit out at Mcast for having refused a student's plea for assistance because he could not afford the B.Tech course registration fee. Mcast had told the student that his request could not be met because it did not have sufficient funds, Dr Muscat said. And then the government had thousands to spend on the inauguration of Palace Square.
This student was pleading for help so that he could learn and make a decent living, and the country should be prepared to help such people because it was an investment into its own future, Dr Muscat said.
MEPA REFORM
Dr Muscat said the Mepa reform proposed by the government was too little, too late. It was full of compromises and would not bring about much-needed change. It would not prevent a repetition of the Bahrija case, or the granting of development permits in the same way as they were granted before the last general election.
He said the PL would make its own proposals for Mepa reform in Parliament, with the point of departure being that Malta needed a culture change. It would make proposals on spatial planning, the separation of development planning and environment protection. It would also stress the importance of effective law enforcement.