Minutes after being elected to become Malta Labour Party leader, Joseph Muscat said he wanted a “new political season” to begin. If the press conference he gave last week on the first 100 days of the government is anything to go by, then the young leader was the first to give an example of what he means.

Usually, politicians are all out to denigrate their opponents, find fault in everything they do, and believe that only they have the right solutions for any problem under the sun. Dr Muscat has however taken a different approach.

Last Friday, he did not mention only what he thinks are the bad points in the first 100 days of the new government, traditionally considered to be the honeymoon period. Dr Muscat also mentioned what he believes are the valid decisions taken.

Such an approach could open the way for politics of cooperation, rather than politics of confrontation.

To be fair, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has been saying, for quite a while, that the government intends to be more inclusive. Over the years, it has managed to seek, and often find, consensus on national policies that needed to be implemented, but the opposition, generally speaking, always found something wrong.

Now, if we continue to have a government that looks for cooperation – but, of course, is then capable of taking decisions even when no agreement is reached – and an opposition that is more constructive, then the country stands to benefit.

Naturally, with the government still in its honeymoon and with Dr Muscat still in his early days as party leader, we were bound to have this kind of signal. Following a highly-charged year or two because the election was fast approaching, both the government and the opposition are now more inclined to show each other more respect.

The problems will no doubt come by later on, as both will be seeking to earn the support of the electorate, in particular those people who consider themselves as floating voters and shift from one party to another depending on the circumstances.

One such problem could be the situation at the Malta Shipyards, which is bound to create controversy and could possibly be the first test in this regard. With the government and the MLP already at loggerheads on the issue, we are bound to have six long months, if not more, of strain when the situation continues to develop.

But, to go back to Dr Muscat’s press conference, the fact that he spared some of his time to shower praise on issues on which there should be agreement – such as the launch of the phase of SmartCity, the waste separation at source schemes, the amendments to the fireworks regulations and the investigation into the cost of school uniforms – is commendable.

One may recall that the opposition was perceived to have been against the SmartCity project not so long ago when it brought up the land speculation factor when Dr Alfred Sant was leader.

It is hard to remember any of Dr Muscat’s predecessors – both Labour and Nationalist Party leaders – being so open in the way they spoke favourably about their political adversaries.

By listing these positive moves, Dr Muscat gained in credibility in his criticism of other measures the MLP did not agree with – such as the way the government reactivated its membership in the Partnership for Peace, the increase in emissions, the failure to lower the income tax as promised and the growing waiting lists at Mater Dei Hospital.

It is often said that no government does everything right and no government does everything wrong. But the way opposition parties spoke in the past did give the impression that they believed the government was wrong on all counts.