Parliament will be discussing the various budget ministry estimates until Wednesday, a necessary tedium to ensure that all goes through and Malta can turn the page to the next economic and fiscal year.

While many, including ministers, parliamentary secretaries and opposition spokesman for the various sectors will be in Parliament to put their arguments forward, many of the backbenchers see the week as a chance for some exposure and to make their voice heard in parliament.

While October saw an upturn in political and government activity following the lulls of August and September, the first couple of weeks after the budget always results in Malta going into a state of paralysis.

At least, the budget itself is no longer a state secret. In the not too distant past, journalists used to be ‘locked up’ in the Finance Ministry ‘dungeon’ from 4pm till after 6pm when the speech used to start in parliament.

Those measures harked back to days where a collective Malta sat on the edge of its whicker settee, glued to their Grundig, to tick off boxes and note how much a can of corned beef or tuna fish would increase.

Even though we now have new media that compete to break the news first, the Finance Ministry decided that there should be no embargo and that all media are invited to attend a presentation by the Minister. Following that, they are free to leave and report and update as they please.

Not before time either. This practice has allowed for some of the hangover budget tension to ease, in a sense, decreasing the importance of the actual budget speech with more emphasis on explaining what the budget measures actually mean.

This, again, is positive. When one takes into account that the media only has a couple of hours to analyse a 200-odd page long speech and turn it into something informative and readable, then it does make sense to follow and report on what is said in parliament.

A substantial amount of what is said can be waffle, and sometimes politicians go off on a tangent, but it is important to follow this debate and to listen to the detailed explanations of individual measures.

As we have said, backbenchers take the opportunity to strut their stuff and enjoy their moment in parliament, but this is also positive as it gives exposure to younger politicians and adds to their experience mix.

Long gone are the days when parliament sittings were a staple form of entertainment, listened to by all families on their rediffusion sets. But it is still important to give parliament, the highest institution of our Republic, the time and space which it deserves.

Many nowadays associate parliament with a rubber stamp – but this is not the case. Laws, drafts, bills, estimates… the list goes on and on. They are debated in parliament and they are often changed or reworded as consensus is reached (or not). Parliament is the defining symbol of this, our tiny republic in the Mediterranean Sea.

With diminished public interest, the responsibility of media in disseminating information grows accordingly. Still, we admit, it is a necessary tedium.