Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi said today that a claim made in court by the Labour Party, seeking the return of 'Freedom Press' its former property at the Malta Shipbuilding site, made one suspect that nothing had changed in the way the party viewed the use of public property since the 1980s.
Speaking in Parliament, Dr Azzopardi recalled that in terms of a contract signed in August 1979, Malta Shipbuilding had transferred properties in Pembroke to the Labour Party in exchange for Freedom Press, the site which Labour had in Marsa.
The property given to the PL in Pembroke included the historic Australia Hall.
Dr Azzopardi said that the Labour Party, in violation of the contractual obligations, did not maintain Australia Hall and allowed it to fall into ruin.
The Lands Department, therefore, filed a court case seeking a return of Australia House because it was allowed to fall into ruin.
The PL in a counter claim, said that if it lost Australia Hall, it wanted its old property in Marsa back.
The party is arguing that in terms of the contract, should it lose any right to the Pembroke property, it can request the Marsa property back.
Dr Azzopardi said such a request left his breathless. The PL had first let Australia Hall fall into ruin, in breach of contract conditions, and then it was quoting the same contract and demanding the return of the former Freedom Press property.
It appeared, he said, that the party's view on the administration of public property had not change since the 1980s.
In his address Dr Azzopardi criticised the Labour government of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s for having expropriated land and distributed it for housing, without paying the landlords. As a result, he said, an injustice had been committed with the landlords, while the people who built houses on those properties were never recognised as owners of their properties. He said the government was now solving this issue by paying compensating the landlords, enabling to tenants to finally have full legal ownership of their houses. €14m have been given in compensation in three years.
Dr Azzopardi said that the Lands Department would soon transfer some 1,000 government apartments to the Housing Authority so that it could enable the tenants to buy them at subsidised rates.
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In October 2009 the Lands Department had officially requested the PL to carry out repairs on Australia Hall within three months. Since no action was taken, the government initiated legal action to revoke the lease on the grounds that the terms of agreement had been breached because of the building's poor condition.
The PL filed an application to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to restore the property. It then demanded the return of the Marsa property, which comprises more than 8,800 square metres of office space.
In September 1996, Australia Hall had been scheduled as a Grade I listed building but was downgraded to Grade II in April 1997. In December 1998, the building was engulfed by flames. The blaze destroyed the corrugated roof and stage area, but the masonry remained practically intact.
Australia Hall dates back to World War I when Malta was converted into a hospital centre and rest area for thousands of the wounded and sick from the Dardanelles campaign. During that period, the Australian Red Cross built Australia Hall as a recreation centre for its co-nationals.
In 1998, the Labour Party had sold another Pembroke property, also transferred to it by the government in 1979, to the St Michael Foundation for almost €600,000