Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party yesterday challenged the government to adopt the proposals it has made for assistance to families in the next budget. In a press conference held in Sliema, party chairperson Harry Vassallo stated that “in the last two budgets we had strongly recommended that more government resources are to be dedicated towards families raising children as we have identified that this is a sector of society that is in most need of assistance. The government chose to ignore our proposals for two years, but now seems to have realised that what we were saying was correct.
We are satisfied that now the government is apparently planning to heed our suggestions, and make family policy a corner stone of this budget. This is a move in the right direction. However from what the Prime Minister is stating, it appears that the assistance to be provided is not as much as we have recommended.”
Party spokesperson on finance, the economy and tourism Edward Fenech explained the proposals made by AD during the pre-budget exercise regarding family assistance. He said that “the first proposal we made is one to increase maternity leave. It is a shame that Malta has one of the most miserly maternity leave entitlements in Europe, even after being governed by a party that likes to say that it is pro-family. Government is proposing a miserable increase of one week. This is token social policy.
”We have proposed an increase from 13 weeks to 26 weeks. It is a shame that in this country many working mothers have to return back to work after just three months. The period of maternity leave should be doubled to six months. However in order not to burden business with additional costs, we have recommended that the additional 13 weeks of maternity leave are financed by government in the form of a flat allowance of Lm70 per week. In addition we have recommended that a supplementary child allowance of Lm160 per annum is given for every child up to age 16.
”Finally we have recommended that if any tax cuts are given, then they must be given in equal fashion to everyone. This should be done by raising the tax exempt portion of income. Government should not repeat the mistake made last year when it gave a tax cut which was so badly designed that those on low incomes received very little or nothing at all.”
Dr Vassallo concluded saying that “we are glad that government has come to accept what we have been saying for two years and will increase assistance to families during this budget. However the assistance must not be a financial token, but substantial enough to make a real difference in the lives and welfare of families.”