The Nationalist Party has set up an office to receive complaints on political discrimination carried out by the present government, with party leader Simon Busuttil pledging that a future PN government would act on them this morning.

Speaking at a political activity in Mosta this morning, Dr Busuttil said that the "Kuntatt" office, which is being led by MP Robert Cutajar, had three main aims, including listening to people in need of the party's assistance and listening to those who still felt hurt by the actions of a past Nationalist government.

But he said that the office would also listen to cases of political discrimination and compile them to ensure that they are addressed when the PN is returned to the government.

The PN leader had argued that political discrimination was becoming widespread, stating that within the public sector, people were being skipped for promotions in an obscene manner to allow someone connected to the Labour Party to advance in their stead.

In his address, Dr Busuttil also criticised the government for failing to allow 16-year-olds to vote in the spring hunting referendum on 11 April, even though they can vote in local council elections on the same day.

He said that the starting point for the PN in the coming local elections was that it was fielding candidates who made it proud, and said that immediately after the election, he would strive to ensure that those who would not succeed in getting elected would still feel a part of the party.

On the other hand, he said, the starting point for the Labour Party was that it did not want the elections to take place at all, even declaring them to be a waste of money.

"Where have you ever heard such a thing in a democracy," he asked, before noting that the government did not apparently see the €4.2 million Café Premier bailout and the exorbitant salary paid to Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi's wife as a waste of public funds.

The PN leader noted that the government was also hypocritical when it granted 16-year-olds the right to vote, only to seek to do away with an election, before arguing that it was similarly hypocritical not to allow them to vote in the upcoming referendum

"Are they mature enough to vote in local councils, but not in the referendum," he asked.

Dr Busuttil also questioned Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's claim, made in recent days, that he had nothing to hide, challenging him to publish the contracts signed with Henley and Partners, ElectroGas Malta, Shanghai Electric and, more recently, that with the Barts Medical School, which, he pointed out, remained unpublished despite the hype surrounding the project.

He questioned the government's declaration that there would be a €200 million investment in the upgrading of St Luke's Hospital and Gozo General Hospital, stating that the fact that the government was mentioning such a figure before a call for expressions of interest was even issued strongly suggested that the call would be a pointless exercise, as the government already knew who to award the contract to.

The PN leader said that if this was the case, the party would be ready to uncover the government's wrongdoing.

Earlier in the day, shadow minister for the environment Marthese Portelli noted that the €35 bonus paid out by the government in recent days did not even make up for the amounts the government was raking in through excessively high fuel prices.

She pointed out that the last time fuel prices were at this level, the price of petrol was €0.97 per litre and that of diesel was €0.94 per litre, insisting that there should be a significant drop in fuel prices.

MEP Roberta Metsola noted that Dr Muscat accused the opposition of being negative whenever it shed light on a scandal or political controversy, but tellingly would not say that the claims were false.

Dr Metsola also noted that Labour-led local councils were plagued by infighting and confrontation, St Paul's Bay and Qormi as examples.

In his own address, PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said that Dr Muscat may be hoping that the controversies which have plagued his government will be forgotten before long, but said that the opposition would continue reminding the public about them.

He said that while he appealed to all those who always voted for the PN to do so again in the coming election, he also appealed to those who decided to try out Labour in the last general election - "and possibly, they were right in doing so" - to return to the PN.