Reference is made to the letter by Fr Lawrence Theuma (TMIS, 22 October).

What must have prompted Fr Theuma to react is the spin created by the Labour media following Minister George Pullicino’s intervention at the Nationalist Party’s general council on 15 October.

It must be clarified that the slant the Labour media gave to Minister Pullicino’s speech was nowhere near what he said.

In his intervention, which was focused on a motion in favour of the environment, Mr Pullicino praised the role voluntary organisations played in pushing the environment to the top of the country’s agenda.

Then he shared this concern: “I am disappointed that certain environmentalists failed to lend their support when this government took certain courageous measures in favour of the environment that were not popular.”

Mr Pullicino has made this comment before, even to representatives of NGOs themselves. His appeal has always been to ensure that certain environmental initiatives are not lost due to lack of support, or worse, due to certain individuals’ ulterior motives to hinder such initiatives.

During the general council, the Minister appealed to those who have the environment at heart not to necessarily support government policy but to support policy that puts the environment first. He called on individuals to have the courage and lend their support to push for anything positive concerning the environment, as there have been occasions when government was left on its own and shown no support. He said that on these occasions, “some of these environmentalists may have a hidden agenda to help a particular party”. It was never stated that NGOs have a hidden agenda – that was the Labour media’s manipulation of the Minister’s comment.

This confirms that the aim of the Minister’s comment was to encourage environmentalists to be objective and look at the big picture rather than form fragmented opinions. This was said with a sense of duty and in the hope that the environment is not turned into a political football.

It is very clear that the Labour media was motivated to spin the Minister’s comment to put him in a bad light with NGOs and sour his relationship with them. Furthermore, the Minister was only partly quoted so the comment was out of context.

Clearly, this is another character-assassination attempt by Labour’s manipulating media.

Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment Communications Office