Last Saturday, 68 per cent of the voters in 21 localities in Malta went to the polls. The local council elections were on again. Labour got the better vote – a 53 per cent majority of those who voted.

I will not dwell on comparing percentages. They won, we lost – and various reasons could be attributed to this result. However, that is not important now. It is far better to look things straight in the face and commit ourselves more to the realities of the day. However, one must admit that different personalities in their various localities as well as the mixing of national issues with local matters do make a difference every time there is this type of election.

It is true that there have been some cases of blatant mistakes at local level. Policies that annoy local residents because they are not only unpopular but also unnecessary should be dumped. A case in point is the installation of speed cameras in areas where, because of their installation, continuous traffic congestion has been created.

On a national basis, what is our agenda?

Ever since Dr Gonzi took office as Prime Minister, he has repeatedly committed himself to take up all the challenges which were either pending or were due to be revisited during this legislature. He did not opt for a honeymoon period but was on the job from the very first day.

As Parliamentary Secretary within his office, I have a much closer look at his modus operandi. There are no postponements, there are no “deal with it later” decisions but what can be seen to today is looked into, discussed, considered and then decided upon. Prolonging decisions is not on the present agenda of the Gonzi government. And notwithstanding the fact that some tough decisions have already been taken, there are still more to come in the coming months.

Decisions regarding health, education and pensions rank among the front-runners. It is imperative for the government to review these three areas to be able to draw up sustainable policies. I am sure that we all wish for a decent pension when we retire. The same can be said of the health service as well as for the future education of our children. Decisions in these fields, taken in the past with different situations and under circumstances which are now bygones, cannot be perpetuated. On the other hand, however, these topics have to be dealt with in a way so as not to negatively affect our way of life drastically.

On education alone, meeting the bill required to pay tertiary education students today means paying bonuses and stipends to well over 10,000 students when, at the time of the initiation of this system, the number of students was between 800 and 1,000. The financial commitment is more than tenfold. This is a substantial cost without looking at the ever-increasing demand of updating curricula and learning/teaching material

On health – medicines and ancillary costs alone this year will be in the region of Lm20 million, a figure which we would not have dreamt of some 10 years ago. And this cost is not anywhere near the rising cost of running the state health institutions [hospitals etc].

As to future pensions – Maltese Families are getting smaller and in due time fewer and fewer people will be carrying the burden of financing future pensions. These have to be not only decent but also sustainable. None of us wishes to wake up one morning and face the problem of having to get by with much less than we are accustomed to if not reducing oneself to below the poverty line.

As one would expect, decisions are difficult to take. If one had to look at the immediate effect of these decisions on the voting patterns of our electorate, this would result in a tendency to re-visit this kind of aggressive policy and fall back to delaying tactics which would then generate much larger problems a few years down the line.

We have had challenges and we will still have to face them for the foreseeable future – be it on the local or international front. If one considers just the various government-related corporations or companies which have been restructured, the amount of work carried out is substantial. However, each decision must include a dose of the required medicine which is not taken voluntarily.

Today is another day. And today will present a new challenge – meeting the test could mean one up for the country and a backward step in popularity. But, in the long run, I believe that the government is doing the right thing.

Tony Abela is a Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the

Prime Minister