On Monday, Simon Busuttil stood up in Parliament and urged political consensus on irregular immigration. I felt proud to belong to a political party that is willing to give ideas and help to try to find solutions to political hot potatoes. We’ve done this not just with immigration but also with other areas, such as health.

None of this means, obviously, that we give up our right – indeed, our duty – to question and, if need be, criticize. In practice, in fact, it often means that we have to raise even more questions. We cannot collaborate without having certain information but Muscat and his ministers are sometimes very slippery about sharing information. Not just with us but with everyone, including those journalists invoking their right under the freedom of information law.

Not unconditional

Naturally, our pledge to give our constructive share is not unconditional. No sensible pledge ever is. In this case, moreover, we have even more reason to be cautious. As Busuttil was making his position clear in Parliament, the Prime Minister put on his poker face – the one we all know so well from Xarabank debates, which seeks to exude gravitas but ends up telling the world about the discomfort he’s really feeling.

The Prime Minister had no option but to accept the offer. He tried to mitigate matters by saying that when he was leader of the Opposition he had done the same. Funnily enough, none of us was able to recall his collaboration on this matter. Actually, we can hardly name anything that he was then willing to collaborate on. Oh yes, financial matters; he always reminds us about that.

So what are the Opposition’s conditions? Essentially, they are five.

First, protection of human life tops all other considerations. Second, and following on this, come the protection of all human rights and dignity.

Third, there needs to be better surveillance of our frontiers to control influx. Fourth, no populist politics, which only lead to racism and xenophobia. Fifth, cooperation between Government and Opposition must be sincere.

The Prime Minister assented to all these conditions. It is now up to civil society to keep us all accountable.

Now you hear about them, now you don’t

During the debate that followed the Prime Minister’s statement on the EU summit, some very interesting points emerged. Once again, the issue of children in detention surfaced. Not for the first time, the information given by the Prime Minister leaves us with more questions than answers.

In his usual roundabout way, the Prime Minister admitted that there are children in detention. But when he described the difficulties his Government has in dealing with this matter, we realized that he was actually talking about unaccompanied minors.

Does this mean that there are not only unaccompanied minors but also children in detention? Back in March, I had raised some sharp questions but never got a clear reply.

We know that there are unaccompanied minors; they’re being cared for brilliantly by the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS).  As a member of parliament’s committee on immigration, I saw and met these young people, as well as the professionals who are doing their utmost to give them a life of dignity. There is still a lot to be done but the seed has been sown.

As committee members, we have not (yet) been taken to visit women in detention, which is where I believe we will find children in detention.

But the questions come naturally. And they should continue to be asked until we get some straight answers.

When did this Government start keeping children in detention? Child detention was abolished by Tonio Borg, then Minister for Home Affairs, in 2003. We were not yet EU member states and we did not have EU obligations. We did the good thing then because it was the right thing to do.

Has that policy been overturned since the general election? Did all this vanish because of a change in Government?

These are the kind of questions we need answers for. Muscat and his Government cannot continue to play games with people’s lives. Sincere collaboration depends entirely on Muscat’s honesty.

Claudette Buttigieg MP – [email protected], twitter: @ButClaudette