The time has come for Parliament to stop being treated as a government department and be given the full autonomy it needs to gain much more dignity than a new building could give it, Opposition leader Joseph Muscat said this evening.

Speaking in Parliament during the commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the first sitting of the legislative assembly and the senate following the Amery-Milner Constitution of 1921, Dr Muscat said that the Speaker's role not given enough recognition and he proposed that the House should rid itself of its colonial heritage through which the Chief Justice was given precedence to the Speaker. He noted that he was not saying this with any disrespect to Chief Justice or judiciary.

Dr Muscat proposed an evolvement of Parliamentary scrutiny. The people's voice in their presentation of petitions should be strengthened through the setting up of a petition's committee which would scrutinises and discuss the petitions and recommend action where necessary.

He proposed a change to the Public Accounts Committee rules so that ministers involved in issues being discussed would give up their place to be replaced by other members.

Dr Muscat proposed the introduction of a committee for economic and monetary affairs in which the Central Bank governor could be involved.

The House, he said, should be given more resources to study EU directives and the feedback of civil society feedback should be incorporated more in Malta's position.

He called for an acceleration of the process for the visual internet screening of sitting and for the attendance records to be online.

He also proposed the introduction of a Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards for the surveillance of MPs parliamentary behaviour. The commissioner would have the power to investigate and report to the Speaker and also to publish his reports.

Dr Muscat also called for a lowering of the voting age in council elections.

After paying tribute to past and current Prime Minister, he hoped he would be alive when Parliament got its first female prime minister.

The challenge of this generation, he said, was to encourage women to take part and be given a central role in public and political life.

He called for a constitutional convention bringing together all sectors of society to give birth to a second republic.