PN secretary general Chris Said today said that while a Labour Party in government said no to the PN’s proposal for political parties to be financed by the State, it was sealing a deal with third parties to acquire a substantial sum of money to finance its own political party.

Speaking outside the Australia Hall premises in Pembroke along with PN MP Ryan Callus, Dr Said highlighted that Australia Hall’s historic status had been downgraded from Grade 1 to Grade 2 between 1996 and 1998 (during a Labour administration) so that certain changes can be made to the land in question in future, implying that Labour always had it planned to sell Australia Hall to third parties which in turn could be used by the buyer for commercial purposes.

It is understood that the land in question and its surroundings, a total 6,000 square metres, was sold to Tamarac Ltd which is owned by the proprietors of the furniture business Fino and Chris Gauci to be used for commercial purposes.

Mr Callus described the move, that of a Labour government awarding the Australia Hall to its own political party, as morally corrupt.

Dr Said explained that the land in question was abandoned after a PN government initiated court proceedings against the Labour Party for failure to pay its ground rent arrears. Dr Said pointed out that had the Labour Party abided by the terms and conditions of the contract, Australia Hall would not be in the state it is today, in a state of disarray.

Dr Said also highlighted the fact that the government got more than it bargained for since as a result of the sale of Australia Hall and its surrounding land to third parties, two pending court cases were dropped against it which had been filed by the Australia Hall buyer.

He explained that if the Labour Party in government really wanted see that a level playing field is implemented, it should refrain from engaging in back room deals with third parties to finance its own political party and ensure that party financing is fair and square for all political parties.

The party financing law started to be discussed in parliament in July.

“The government wants the party financing law in place but before it goes about approving the bill, it wanted to ensure that it aquires the land in question so that it could sell it and finance its own party,” he said.

He noted that each and every Labour government grasped as much public land as possible for its own benefit in the past, and this time is no exception.

Labour Party says Australia Hall was a form of compensation for portion of lost property

In response to the PN’s news conference on the sale of Australia Hall, the Labour Party said in a statement that worthy of note is that the property in question was passed on to the Labour Party as a form of compensation after the then government had taken away a portion of the former Shipbuilding which was property of the Labour Party.

“It was a PN government who initiated court proceedings against the Labour Party on the property in question and the PN did so purely for partisan purposes,” the PL said.

“It would be wiser had the same persons who are speaking about finances to look back and remember that they not only left the country in a bad financial state but also managed to do so to their own party,” the statement read.