Competitiveness, Digital Economy, Maritime and Services Minister Emmanuel Mallia believes that scrutiny and criticism of the financial services sector is important, however it can also be destructive when such criticism is repeated over and over.

He was presumably talking about the Panama Papers scandal, where it was found that no-portfolio Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri to concurrently own a company registered in the financially secretive district of Panama sheltered by a trust registered in New Zealand.

His comments come during the bi-annual series of government events entitled Gvern li jisma’ (a government that listens), where each Ministry is allocated a session to respond to questions put forward by the public.

In response to a question about whether the government would be regularising the estate agent industry in any way, Dr Mallia made reference to the white paper issued some time ago which deals with the issue. All stakeholders were invited to provide their input for the duration of a month.

This time has passed, with Dr Mallia reaffirming the government’s previous commitment to create an agency which would serve to safeguard consumers’ rights as well as ensure that agents have the necessary training and knowledge to provide their service at a certain standard.

Turning to the issue of gaming, and whether the Gaming Minister is going to ensure that excessive gamblers would not be allowed to abuse of their addiction, Dr Mallia spoke of the responsible gaming foundation. He said that it is tasked with ensuring that people can enjoy themselves responsibly, and also referred to the helpline: 1717. In addition to this, he said educational campaigns in school go a long way to curb abuse.

“Land and remote gaming in 2015 registered €640 million in direct contributions.”

Dr Mallia revealed a five year contract with Microsoft, with €12million, which will see the IT giant provide the government with all the products and technology it needs to carry out its duties.

He spoke of Malta and Gozo being the first wi-fi state with 100 per cent wi-fi coverage. Broadband infrastructure is another area in which Dr Mallia said this Ministry will tackle

“Politics should never take partisan advantage of a bad situation. Politics is there for the people, to better the public’s quality of life,” he concluded.