Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said yesterday he was taking the Opposition with a “pinch of salt” because it spent 25 years in government during which it could have proposed reforms in the way judicial appointments were made. Dr Bonnici pointed out that no mention of such reforms were made in the Nationalist Party’s 2008 and 2013 electoral programmes.

He recalled that the Bonello Commission had asked the PN for proposals two years ago but none were forthcoming.

Notwithstanding this, Dr Bonnici said he would not be discarding the Opposition’s Bill, though further discussions were needed on some of the points.

He reiterated the government’s commitment to reform the way judicial appointments were made by the end of the legislature, saying a wide-ranging Bill would be presented to Cabinet for approval.

The government’s priority at the moment was for court cases to be handled more expediently, he said. Asked if the government would hold off new appointments until the changes were made, Dr Bonnici said there was a substantial backlog of court cases and not making appointments would do more harm than good.

In a meeting with the Chamber of Advocates, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil yesterday appealed to the government to halt further appointments pending the changes.

Chamber president George Hyzler agreed with the appeal “on the assumption that this would be for a short time”.