It's not the first time has landed in it, and it probably won't be his last. Tony Zarb again finds himself at the centre of a raging storm over highly disrespectful and idiotic remarks he passed with regard to a group of women exercising their democratic right to protest, peacefully, in front of the Office of the Prime Minister.

Zarb took umbrage at the fact that a group of civilized women were camping outside the great leader's office and wrote a shameful Facebook post in which he compared the women to prostitutes and, as is his trademark, labelled them as traitors.

His comments were met with wrath from all quarters of society - well, almost all.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat did not think it appropriate to include some words of condemnation in the various tweets uploaded during the day. It was only after this newspaper chased after him at an evening event that he commented on the matter.

On the other hand, the GWU was responsible enough to chastise its former leader and it did this on its own, without being pushed.

The situation here is made more serious because Zarb is not some anonymous civil servant but the former boss of Malta's biggest trade union. As leader of that union he was expected to strive to improve the conditions of all workers, irrespective of their gender. In his former role he represented thousands of women workers.  So Zarb's disgusting attack against women is not only disrespectful and hurtful but also illogical for someone with his background.

But then again we are used to such rants from Zarb, who just a few months ago caused uproar with disparaging and homophobic remarks about PANA committee chairman Werner Langen and PN MEP David Casa. There too, the PM had been reluctant to condemn Zarb's poison.

Quite frankly, the removal of the offensive post and Zarb's half baked 'apology' are nowhere near enough.

The country is currently going through a difficult phase, following the heinous murder of a woman journalist, with many taking to the streets to march for freedom of expression. We are firm believers of that right and are not trying to shut anyone up.

But this is not what freedom of speech is about. Zarb's comments could effectively constitute a crime. Our criminal code states that anyone who offends another person on the basis of gender, gender identity and sexual orientation, if convicted, can be jailed to anything between six and eighteen months.

One wonders where Equality Minister Helena Dalli is and why she and her ministry have remained totally silent in the face of such gender-based abuse.

Yesterday, we expected the PM to at least issue a one-line tweet condemning this abuse. But we also expect the PM to announce that he has sacked Zarb from any consultancy roles and that he will never again be allowed to do government work.

If the government were serious about equality, sexism and hate speech it would also strip Zarb of his Gieh ir-Repubblika Award - a decoration he surely does not deserve. But that is not likely to happen.

Finally, we cannot but also condemn the way in which an OPM official was labelled as a 'terrorist' and the disparaging remarks made by Simon Busuttil on Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar. All forms of hate speech and insults have to stop.