In the last general election, four out of five MPs were returned for Labour from the Fifth District (Birzebbuga, Kirkop, Marsaxlokk, Imqabba, Qrendi, Safi and Zurrieq). Two-thirds of first preference votes went to Labour candidates – far higher than the national average. This is a remarkable achievement and we would need the services of a historian to recall the last time Labour won this district with such margins.

You would have therefore legitimately expected some gratitude for this from Labour. After all, was not the switch to using natural gas supposedly motivated primarily by health concerns? Were the people living around Marsaxlokk Bay not the ones who were suffering the most from the consequences of what Joseph Muscat deceitfully labelled “the cancer factory”? What happened to the Labour mayors of the south, the once protectors of the people, who protested so vociferously about anything introduced by a Nationalist government, including the modernisation of an EU-funded recycling plant?

Only fools rush in

The more important the decision, the more time should be spent weighing the pros and cons, thinking of possible alternatives and sleeping on something. Most of us are intuitively familiar with this and have applied it in our lives – most of the time without thinking. We don’t mull over what groceries to buy in the same way we mull over whether to buy a car or an apartment, do we? To do otherwise would be foolish.

But not the Labour government. It seems to have become a law of its nature that the time it takes to arrive at a decision is inversely proportional to the decision’s importance. Vide the decision to introduce the scheme to sell passports. In its haste, the government was unable to take the time it takes to draft a proper, correct and agreed legal notice. Whatever revenue it rakes in from the scheme – whether €30 million per annum (the figure quoted when addressing a Maltese audience) or €8 million (when addressing foreign MEPs) – it will never make up for this dent in Malta’s reputation, which will be remembered for as long as there are PCs, internet connections and search engines.

Reputations at stake

Foolishness – or something more sinister? The energy plan might hold a clue. Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi both staked their reputation on the plan and their ability to roll it out in a very short space of time. I do not know why they decided to stake their claim to competence in rushing things. I would have thought it was about health, or the environment, or energy affordability.

It was none of these. And in its mad rush, Labour is cutting corners. The next time anyone mentions a few odd millions of direct orders given in five years of Nationalist government, first check if they are lying. Then remember that the purchase of the new energy generation infrastructure, worth a whopping €200 million, was done outside regular procurement procedures – those same procedures Labour used as a stick with which to beat the Nationalist government over the procurement of the BWSC generator (and, incidentally, thanks to which it will shortly be able to lower electricity tariffs).

Domes, football grounds and gambling

During the election campaign, the Nationalist Party described Labour’s energy plan as “Alice in Wonderland”. The description could not have been more apt: the logic applied was – how shall I put it? – very “fluid”. Take the storage tanks. They were supposed to be on land. Then someone pointed out that, in order to hold the volumes foreseen, each would have to be the size of the Mosta dome.

Mindful of bad publicity, that was enough to send Labour scurrying to the drawing board. After the election it announced that, instead of being stored on land, gas will be stored on a tanker moored bang in the middle of the bay. It also announced that the LNG storage required will go up from 60,000 to 140,000 cubic meters on a tanker as big as three football grounds.

Reports by experts have pointed out the risk of locating such huge quantities of stored gas in the middle of Marsaxlokk Bay, next to residences, business and infrastructures of high strategic importance (such as the power station and Malta Freeport). Labour felt it could brush that off. For what are the chances that anything untoward would happen? In the improbability stakes it about as high as a passenger plane disappearing into thin air leaving everyone with no clue as to its whereabouts for two weeks, isn't it? Unless, that is, some Nationalist Party supporter decides to perform some spectacular act of sabotage – which the Prime Minister seems to entertain as a possibility.

A government that listens only to itself

It counts for little that 91per cent of residents expressed concern at this choice, for as stated in parliament, the Energy Minister seems to rather awkwardly interpret people’s genuine concerns as positive attitudes towards the tanker option. It counts for little as to whether or not the Prime Minister kept his promise regarding the non-privatisation of Enemalta, as the transfer of the shareholding of the company, no matter what you call it, has resulted in employees being informed that they will now have to work under new employers and new conditions.

It counts for little that the choice of a tanker full of 140,000 cubic metres of gas anchored in the middle of Marsaxlokk Bay is not considered the safest option by experts. And it counts for little that, in the final analysis, the Labour government will still go for the Nationalists’ preferred and much safer option of a gas pipeline – because speed is of the essence. Joseph Muscat and Conrad Mizzi have promised to resign, should they not be able to deliver the new power station by their second year in office.

The concerns of residents do not matter. Employees’ apprehension does not matter. Expert opinions do not matter. Political slogans do no not matter. This is definitely not a government that listens to the people. Unfortunately, it only listens to itself.

Clyde Puli is the Shadow Minister for Family and Social Solidarity