“The budget did not address the true cause of poverty, which is increasing and becoming more widespread,” according to Anglu Farrugia, the Opposition’s spokesperson for employment and employee rights.

The government’s unaccounted spending is the reason for worsening social problems, and not oil prices, he added when making his remarks during the Social Policy Ministry’s budget estimates yesterday morning.

He said that water and electricity bills are cumbersome on people and asked how Smart metres could help reduce bills.

An internal report, the National Profile of Chemicals published last month, shows that huge quantities of oil are lost through leakages every day. These problems should be addressed first and not utility bills, Dr Farrugia said.

The government’s ‘money no problem’ attitude led the country into massive debts. We are paying some e400 million to finance the debt, he said.

Prior to the 2008 election, Dr Farrugia continued, the government promised to reduce taxes and stimulate personal power, however it is increasing indirect taxes especially through water and electricity tariffs.

The targets the Prime Minister put forward in the budget, are “not factual or credible,” he remarked. The budget is “full of void incentives”, which he believed will not give results.

A Labour administration is necessary to get the country back on its feet, ensure social services and a fair quality of living for everyone.

Dr Farrugia also noted the lack of attendance by government members in parliament, the time taken to answer parliamentary questions and the rude attitude taken at times.

The Labour Party’s spokesperson for social policy, Michael Farrugia said the cost of living is exaggerated in comparison to salaries. Food, clothes and most other items on sale in Malta are more expensive than in any other country when local salaries are much lower than those of other countries, he said.

He pointed out that the government does not regard sexual health as a priority and there was no mention of the long drawn out sexual health policy in the budget. “Sexual education, free from taboo is not being practised,” he said.

The Social Affairs Committee created its report on the matter and the government must act on it, Dr Farrugia said. He also noted there are a lot of misconceptions about sex, the lack of condom use, unwanted pregnancies and people going abroad for sex.

He also remarked that Maltese children are among the most obese in the world, yet the government is doing little to improve this. Weight reduction clinics, better educational programmes and aerobic clinics are a must, he said.

Meanwhile, more respiratory diseases were resulting due to black dust coming from a number of sources. This was increasing the government’s expenditure while the source of dust was still not known.

Lack of investment for new medicine and preventive care was another cause of concern, he said.

The Labour Party’s spokesperson for family and equality, Justyne Caruana said that little was being done to sustain families. Consequently, the most vulnerable compounds were ending up in poverty and vicious circles.

She explained there was a lack of socio-economic studies focusing on the family and resources such as the family institute at the university were not properly utilised.

With reference to the judicial system, Dr Caruana said harsher punishment was to be handed down to sexual abusers. There was also a need for more legal representatives for children as there was only one person serving the whole country.