The use of an army helicopter to ferry Labour MP Justyne Caruana from Gozo to Malta last Tuesday in time to catch a flight to France was for national reasons as the MP was representing Malta on Parliamentary work abroad, the government said.

This was in contrast to what used to be done under the previous administration when army assets were used to take the Prime Minister to receptions, meals and concerts. On one occasion, the army was used to take the PM, who was also leader of the Nationalist Party, to a party meeting in Sicily.

The government's assets in this instance were used for Malta to be represented in the Parliamentary Assembly for the Mediterranean, it said.

Earlier today, the PN described the matter as another instance of abuse of power which, it said, was becoming the order of the day.

It said that in a few months, the country’s forces of law and order had been transformed into a tool to serve the partisan interests of the party in government, rather than the state.

This had happened when police were made to serve as waiters, when soldiers were requested to clean up fields near the heliport in Gozo and when the Police Commissioner directly involved himself in specific cases such as those of John Dalli, Norman Vella and Daryll Luke Borg to defend the government’s partisan interests, the PN said.

It said it was incredible how the Prime Minister was trying to justify the behaviour of a member of Parliament by putting her on the same level of a Prime Minister.

This was why the Nationalist Party had moved a motion for Parliament to have a Commissioner and Committee on Standards, Ethics and Good Behaviour in Public Life.

The party appealed for the forces of law and orders to be respected and used for the service of the state and not for the partisan interests of the Labour government.