As the Maltese sages say – it takes years to build a church but it’s quite quick and easy to dismantle it. It is wrong to take what we have for granted and we need to make sure we look after what we have built in Malta over the past years.

This is the time for all of us who have our country at heart to look around us, put our hand on our heart and honestly and objectively choose the better party to lead this country. The choice is clear, the choice is one, the choice is for change. Yes, by choosing the PN we are choosing change. Not change just for the sake of it but change to move forward, change to reach higher than we thought possible, change to avoid reverting to mediocrity.

The choice is more than clear – and that is why I have chosen the PN and will continue to do so. That is what the PN has always preached and acted upon – the party believes in Malta’s people, the party has never worried about changing in order to move on and achieve what others think is not possible. That is the only change we need, not – as Labour keeps saying – that we need a change just because it is due.

All around us we can see success stories – yes, Malta is a success story – with its own problems, of course. But none of these problems are major ones compared to other countries. In Malta we are privileged to have a free health care system and an unequalled educational system where we pay our post-secondary and tertiary students a stipend. But Labour spokesmen think otherwise – because they never believe it is possible for us to be better than other countries.

Because of these measures in health and education, we are the envy of many. Today, more young people are graduating than ever before and when they graduate, they all find employment. Yes, 20,000 students have graduated in the last five years and all have found good, steady employment. That is how stable our country is. That is how sound our decisions have been for our children and for our future well being, even in the physical sense thanks, to our free health care. Of course this is an expense for the national budget but one that is an investment for the future, with our well being secured for many years to come. With the PN, we do not have just words, but action – the PN in power has sustained health and education for a number of years with a pledge to improve and extend it in the years to come.

Labour mouths some words to the effect that they want to sustain these systems but their history taints them, and lies and denials will not rub out the past. We have seen Edward Scicluna, one of Labour’s main spokesmen on finance, deny that he ever said we should do away with the health system for all and stipends. He challenged Tonio Fenech to prove that he had said these words and Tonio duly did so. So now where does Labour stand? Will it give us a proper explanation as to how an economist of such standing – Labour’s own star candidate – can say something one day then deny he ever said it a few years later?

This is where PN wins by a mile or more. We deliver. The PL promises but even its promises are hollow and will end up being just illusions. The star finance candidate does not believe in free health and stipends and thinks they should be stopped. Because he believes we are mediocre and we cannot reach higher.

If the labour movement takes over the running of our country we shall certainly have change – a change to mediocrity.