Nationalist MP Charlo' Bonnici yesterday called on the government to revisit the decision to build a new inland road ostensibly to save Għadira Bay from erosion.
Making it clear that his first responsibility was to his country, he said the government should seek to strengthen, not ruin, the good that Malta already had.
Mr Bonnici disagreed that in order to save Għadira Bay the solution should be to build a new road. The decision should be revisited in no unnecessary hurry, and the least harmful solution should be chosen.
For the past 30 years the Danish village had brought to Malta some 500 tourists a week who invariably went home singing Malta's praises, enticing even more Danes to visit the country. The proposed road put at risk the village, Foresta 2000 and the bird sanctuary.
He said the importance that the budget was giving to the environment should not be thrown to the wind with projects that would evidently be harmful, even if the aim behind them was noble.
In contrast to what was happening over Għadira Bay, some projects took too long to decide on. A case in point was the Opera House project which could now finally go ahead.
The ongoing reform at Mepa was both necessary and desirable. Even though not much about it had been heard in the budget speech, the incentives the government was giving for the environment inevitably involved Mepa. Planning was becoming increasingly important because of the building zone restrictions inherent in Malta's small size. Past mistakes were now making Malta suffer.
It made sense to stop the building sprawl and start building vertically, but abuses were still possible and should be looked out for.
The aesthetic aspects of whole villages had been ruined.
The residents' quality of life had taken a turn for the worse after they had invested in homes that were now surrounded by suffocating blocks of flats. These people had lost the benefit of their airspace, the trees in their gardens were dying, and they were hardly in a position to benefit from the government's budget incentives to install solar heating.
These residents should not be allowed to fall prey to bullying by contractors who tried to shoulder them out so that they could expand their construction areas.
Concluding, Mr Bonnici said that while it was working on a review of local plans, Mepa should keep citizens' interests in mind and give them the benefit of the doubt in its decisions. It could do this by freezing applications that were evidently giving rise to widespread opposition.
Franco Debono (PN) said it was the fourth time in a matter of months that he was speaking in Parliament about the importance of amending the law, giving a person under arrest the right to legal advice.
According to the current legislation, the person did not have a right to consultation with a lawyer. There was already a clause in the 2002 Criminal Code amendments to provide for this but it had not yet been enforced. The penal system in Malta, especially after the 2002 amendments, was in line with other advanced democracies.
This amendment would allow persons under arrest to communicate with a lawyer of their choice for not more than an hour, either face to face or over the telephone. There was also another clause to avoid any impingement of the rights of the person under arrest.
In the light of a recent decision by the European Court of Justice in a case against Turkey, it was even more important that the amendment came into force as soon as possible.
Currently, even when being interrogated, the person was accompanied only by the Police Inspector and a witness, meaning that this gave room for certain allegations. The amendment would even benefit the investigative authorities. It was hard for a defence lawyer to explain to the relatives of persons under arrest that they could not speak to them.
The Nationalists in government had made many legislative amendments which made Malta proud, concluded Dr Debono.
Former Health Minister Louis Deguara said it was important for people to understand the need for private insurance even though they already had health insurance under the NI scheme.
The system in Malta was akin to that in UK, with the major difference being that the British system was based on doctors in the community. By contrast, in Malta the district medical officers of long ago had been superseded by polyclinics as a temporary measure, although they had provided good primary care.
It was time for Malta to change strategy because no matter how large the health vote was, it was finite. He recalled the raising of VAT from 15 per cent to 18 per cent some years ago, with the three additional percentage points intended to help foot the health bill.
It was also important that what was done with the health vote lived up to people's expectations. They should be made to realise that once this was distributed over the various aspects of the health sector it was not infinite. It had been found out that roughly €1,863.50 a year were spent on every person over 75 years of age. Every cent must be made to count.
There was an eternal tug-of-war between ensuring that the health service was of the highest technology and making the people understand the necessity of the investment.
Dr Deguara said that after having invested in high-quality technology to help cure illness, the next major step should be to invest in preventing illness.
People must be made to realise that the government's move to reduce taxes on alcohol did not mean it was advocating its consumption. Malta had been the second country in Europe to introduce legislation against smoking in enclosed spaces. The extra taxes imposed on cigarettes in the budget would go towards further education of the people on health matters.
The successes in health care were having an effect on people's longevity, which in turn was having an effect on health services. Unfortunately the notion was creeping in among families that they could abandon their old relatives to the government's care.
While Malta's birthrate was going down, thereby providing less people to work for economic growth, 22 per cent of births were still occurring among unmarried women, a number of whom unofficially continued to live with their partners while applying for social services they had no right to. Last year, out of 3,996 live births, 895 were to unmarried mothers.
Some people were even failing to effectively care for their own health because they knew that whatever happened to them, the government health services would be there for them.
Concluding, Dr Deguara said that even though private enterprise was opening up old people's homes, it was still the government's responsibility to ensure that the facilities therein were of the right quality and level. The government was inviting the private sector to work hand in hand with it on this, but some old people's homes still fell somewhat short of requirements.
Jean Pierre Farrugia (PN) said that €20 million had been allocated in the budget to five new schemes over five years to explore new markets, for research and development, the setting up of new companies, the increased use of information technology and SMEs.
In the latter sector a lot had already been done, even when it came to the EU's modern SME policy, much of which had already been implemented. These included doing away with bureaucracy and the Trade Licensing Act, which stipulated that there could be no more than 10 days between the submission of an application and the issuing of the licence. There were already plans to bring this down to seven days.
The SME policy stipulated that administrative burdens should be reduced by 25 per cent by 2012. Even when it came to improving the SMEs' access to markets, the EU insisted on mutual recognition. The EU Services Directive offered the opportunity for points of single contact, which would allow service providers to carry out all the necessary formalities in a one-stop shop system. There were other projects in the pipeline to strengthen the sector.
Referring to the revision of fines and interests related to Income Tax and VAT, Dr Farrugia said that a revision was inevitable as although this was a process in conjunction with the EU, the establishment of these fines depended on the member state.
Other fines that the self-employed were burdened with, such as those imposed on pharmacies and pharmacists, were being stretched too far. He claimed that a pharmacist who had closed the pharmacy for a couple of hours without prior authorisation had been fined the maximum of €2,329.
This was not fair on people who were offering a service. This surely was not a way to incentivise people. He warned that the Economic Survey revealed that the number of self-employed did not increase but had remained at some 11,000 since 2004.
Turning to the health services, Dr Farrugia said one should make the system more sustainable as it was apparent that expenditure was always on the rise. He recalled that in 2004, during the pensions' reform, there had been plans for launching a health insurance scheme that would be partly covered by social security contributions. A year later it had been said this could not be done, because the percentage to be allocated to health had not yet been defined. Now that the pension reform had taken place, one would expect reforms in this sector.
The public system favoured those who went to private specialists, normally those who had health insurance. These had an advantage when it came to waiting time and tests. Dr Farrugia said one must now address the problem.
Opposition speakers will be carried tomorrow.