In the four years that have passed, Simon Busuttil, at the helm of the Nationalist Party, had the perfect opportunity to provide the party with the massive change that it craved and needed.  Instead, what Busuttil gave the PN and the country between mid-2013 and mid-2017 was exactly the opposite.

He wanted to win at all costs, even if it meant attempting to destabilise the entire Maltese economy and putting businesses and the livelihood of Maltese families at risk by sowing uncertainty, as he attempted to do in the past few months.

The PN had one aim and one aim alone, to defame and discredit the government, to score partisan political points while putting the country’s economy and workers at risk. This was far from the behaviour of a responsible political party in Opposition.

While the Opposition remained oblivious to the dangers that their harmful actions could have had, the people understood that the road being taken by the PN was not the same road they wanted to take. One would have hoped that a change in leader would have meant a change in direction for the party, a change which would have seen cooperation on matters of national interest and a change in the attitude and choice of vocabulary used.

One of the challenges faced by our country, due to our growing economy, the increase in tourists and the growing rate of consumption is the challenge of waste management. This is a challenge about which pivotal decisions need to be taken, decisions which previous Nationalist governments failed to address.

Which is why I for one welcomed the invitation made by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to the new PN leader, Adrian Delia, to reconsider Simon Busuttil’s refusal for the PN to form part of a waste management committee.

To me, this seemed like a logical and sensible invitation.

Despite all this, Delia’s reaction to the invitation was completely illogical.

He said the government will not dictate the PN’s agenda.

What Delia fails to comprehend is that a request to reconsider one’s decision does not equate to dictating one’s agenda.

Equally illogical was Delia’s combative reaction to the Prime Minister’s invitation for a courtesy meeting, to which Delia replied that he didn’t fear him. Now this would have been the type of expected behaviour and comment thrown around at a fighting arena. What Delia needs to understand quickly is that it is the political arena we currently find ourselves in, and in this arena, we debate and give our country direction for the people’s benefit.

The people have shown clearly that the time for partisan and negative politics is something they want left in the past

The question we face is: which direction do we want our country to take? And we have to answer to that ourselves. The people have shown clearly that the time for partisan and negative politics is something they want left in the past, along with the division it brought with it.

Much like Delia’s political style, his comments on certain issues left a lot to be desired and shed quite a bit of light on some of his personal views.

One of these statements showed just what he really thinks about females.

Worryingly, Delia claimed that the initiative being taken by the Labour Party (LEAD) to increase the number of women in Maltese politics is nothing more than political “convenience”.

Delia is so detached from reality he has no understanding or empathy for the obstacles which women face on a daily basis to progress in their careers. What’s just as bad is that he refuses to acknowledge the lack of female participants in politics by attempting to belittle the Labour Party’s initiative to remedy that issue as nothing more than political convenience.

Delia is completely oblivious to the ambitions and wishes of this country’s people who want to achieve a better life for themselves and their families.

Working hard to earn a living and having the ambition to progress in life are important values, however they do not necessarily make life any easier for workers. Which is why I was yet again left disappointed by the new PN leader’s comments on the government proposal to give back employees public holidays that fall on a weekend.

His reaction to this proposal was the Maltese already had the most leave days in the EU. Just as Delia’s comments about the Labour Party’s initiative to increase women in politics exposed his real views on females, this comment also exposed his real views on worker’s rights and welfare.

The hardworking people of this country strive to achieve their goals and they need a government that supports them and above all else a government that understands them and their needs.

First impressions are everything, and more often than not, the first steps taken by a person in his new role reflect his own views and beliefs.

While Adrian Delia has promised a “new way”, he has so far retained the old way.

Miriam Dalli is a Labour MEP.