Prime Minister Joseph Muscat heavily criticised the Nationalist's Party's credibility when "preaching from a pulpit" on issues, flagging them as being the "only single entity who enjoyed the division between the state and educators" during last week's conflict between the Malta Union of Teachers and the administration.
Echoing Education Minister Evarist Bartolo, who spoke before Muscat, the PM said that the willingness of the government to withdraw the bill displayed the mentality of the current administration to sit down, discuss, and find solutions.
"If the strike was going to take place tomorrow, I can guarantee you that the discourse would be the same," Muscat said.
The strike had been called after the union objected to amendments to the Education Act, which the union said would remove teachers' professional status.
Both the PM and Bartolo have said that they believed the issues stemmed from "misinterpretation" of the amendments, both saying that the legislation would not remove warrants or stipulate that teachers must apply for warrants each yearl and that the MUT agreed with the concept of the continuous professional development of educators, which they were already obliged to do.
During his address, Bartolo made an appeal for people to show more respect towards teachers following last week.
Muscat said that the government would now sit down with MUT to clarify their positions on certain proposals to ensure that there is agreement with the stakeholders most invested in the legislation.
Ultimately, he explained, it was both the intention of the government and the MUT to improve the situation of teachers, parents, and most importantly students.
In contrast, he said, the opposition was singled out as the sole entity with a negative outlook towards the situation, adding that the PN was "enjoying the division between teachers and state."
"The opposition has no credibility when it comes to criticising," Muscat said, insisting that it was his government who is committed to improving the education sector through collective agreements and other initiatives.
Using this as a springboard to criticise the PN's credibility, Muscat referenced a recent NAO report into the aquarium in Qawra.
"The previous government sold land valued at 15 million euro for free to private investors," he said
"How can you preach about good governance and land valuation when you never cared about it when you were governing?" Muscat added, stressing that this did not mean he would compare his government to standard of others, evidenced by the administration's commitment to improving the situation for all.
Moving onto the current strides the government is making in the blockchain sector, Muscat said that the industry would be more resilient than the Igaming sector, which he said was based upon the country's fiscally competitive tax system.
He added that the government would also pursue a "positivist" attitude when it came to artificial intelligence, explaining that it was important to regulate and be at the forefront of growing technologies.
"We always look the future," he said, stressing the importance of the upcoming MEP and Local Council Elections as crucial fora which effects the lives of every individual.