Government MP Marlene Farrugia was welcomed with open arms by Nationalist Party supporters yesterday as she made an unprecedented appearance at a PN rally opposing “the sale of natural heritage”.

The outspoken MP was met with extensive applause, hugs and handshakes from about 200 people who gathered at Żonqor Point, the site earmarked for the development of a new American University of Malta.

Her attendance and spirited 15-minute speech followed a similar appearance at a rally organised by a group of NGOs last week and comes on the back of several weeks of campaigning against the proposed development.

In a rousing address, Dr Farrugia said she had agreed to attend the rally because she loved Malta and did not want to see its precious environmental gems “sold off”.

She said that after Opposition leader Simon Busuttil approached her, she had agreed to attend the rally but only on two conditions: that he promised to remain loyal to the environment once elected to government and that he agreed to acknowledge the party’s past “environmental mistakes”.

Framing her attendance as “about Malta and nothing else”, Dr Farrugia told the gathering one of her earliest memories was being told by her mother to put “Malta first and above all else”.

She quickly followed up, the statement saying: “God only knows how many times I sang religio et patria with you all”, referring to a PN anthem.

She said she had worked hard to see the Labour government elected because she believed in its electoral mantra “Malta for all”.

However, she said she feared that, if society did not speak out against the university project, the island’s natural heritage would be destroyed.

She urged society not to be fooled by promises of national parks alongside the project because the entire area belonged to everyone.