Last week most of us were keenly following the US election. It was a historic election for both the US and the rest of the world, for a variety of reasons. The first African American president was elected president of the US. However, the most inspiring fact is that a boy who never really knew his father (except for a few weeks later on in life), a boy who was abandoned by his mother who went to live in Indonesia, and who was raised by his grandparents, was elected to the highest and most prestigious office in the world.
His life could have easily gone astray. Without any continuous and constant parental guidance, being part of a minority, and with no one to trust except himself, Barack Obama was determined and focused enough to pursue his career and reach his goal. He became inspirational, in the sense that he showed us that when we have ambition, determination and focus, we can obtain results.
Yes, we can.
Obama’s ideology of achievement can be applied to our island as well. If we all pull the same rope, if we remain focused on our ultimate goals, we will achieve our goals for our beloved island.
Yes, we can... push for more environmentally friendly measures. Proposing green politics is not only talk, chit chat, and being politically correct. It’s rather cool for most politicians to talk about environment policies. Talk is cheap. It’s time for action and drastic action at that. The environmental changes that we face are enormous and we all have to pitch in. We cannot keep on using energy the way we have been using it, or rather wasting it, so far. All of our actions contribute to the ever-increasing energy demand and consumption, which does not come cheap.
Apart for the fiscal cost of producing energy (the price of oil has become extremely volatile); there is an environment cost as well. Malta needs to reduce its levels of carbon emissions. Some of the recent budget measures were introduced with the primary aim of reducing waste, and create awareness in Malta. The question is whether the old habits of anything goes should be curtailed through education or fiscal measures aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
The most unpopular measure in the last budget was the circulation tax. People were stunned, but hopefully this measure will be one step in making people realise that we all need to pitch in to save our environment. We need to change our habits.
The extra costs that we have to pay today will hopefully be saved tomorrow in lower health bills.
Yes we can... work together to reduce waste. We, through our taxes cannot continue to subsidise energy waste. The subsidy of Enemalta comes from our taxes. Who wants to subsidise the excess use of water and electricity consumption of somebody else? Electricity in Malta is still relatively cheap (to the consumer) when compared to Europe, but its production is not cheap at all. At the end of the day we all have to pay, either directly or indirectly through taxes which could be spent on other services.
Yes, we can... push for better sustainable development of Maltese localities. Most of our local councils are doing a great job and need to be rewarded. They know best for their own communities, and should be given higher incentives. The PN government will take a number of initiatives for the sustainable development of Maltese localities, namely: tax credit to SMEs, financial assistance to help restore facades of our beautiful buildings, higher financial assistance to local councils and awards to local councils who take initiatives to assist their own local SMEs and also rewarding those local councils which take initiatives to improve their environment.
Yes, we can... keep on investing in our main asset – human resources. Through measures taken in the last budget, more assistance will be given for employment and training in industries such as tourism and manufacturing. We aim to improve accessibility to training programmes for better quality skills. We need to continuously promote the development of courses in accordance with the needs of the industries.
Yes, we can... attract more participants and more players in the local work force. The last budget has introduced new fiscal incentives to attract more women to the labour force. Most of the married mothers have important skills, which they can use. Most of these mothers usually put their career on hold with enormous sacrifice. Tax credits are being introduced to attract most of these mothers back in the work force.
Yes, we can... do our best to support the private enterprise and SMEs, which are the backbone of our economy. The regulatory environment for small enterprises needs to be reduced. These enterprises should focus on their business, their strategy and their markets, and not on bureaucracy and red tape. A one-stop shop for assistance will be helpful as well.
Yes, we can... focus more on incentives for sustainable development and also to diversify our economy. Diversification is healthy. We should invest more in growing sectors of our economy such as IT sector and financial sector. The government’s primary aim is job creation and also improving the overall economic climate in Malta. Grants for research and development will be given, while assistance to SMEs will be given to help them in the development of processes, products and innovative services. The PN government also plans to assist E-business development and small start-ups.
Yes, we can... move from formulating policies into action and the implementation of policies. We have been talking about most issues for the last months, if not years. Now it is time for action. We all need to do our bit. If we claim to be environmentally conscious, we all need to do our part. We need to think about each one of our actions, and constantly think about waste. Being careful does not mean decreasing or hindering our convenience. Our collective actions will bear results.
Yes, we can... yes, together everything is possible.
David Agius is the government
parliamentary whip