PN Deputy Leader Mario de Marco bombarded the Labour Party during a Broadcasting Authority debate which aired on PBS this evening, stating that today's Labour Party is not the PL of Mintoff or Alfred Sant, that today's Labour Party is not the workers party.

PN Deputy Leader Mario de Marco and MP Marthese Portelli represented the Nationalist Party during the debate on PBS, while Parliamentary Secretary for Planning Deborah Schembri and PL candidate Julia Farrugia Portelli represented the Labour Party. The debate was presented by Mario Micallef.

During the debate, Parliamentary Secretary Deborah Schembri had criticised the PN, firing shots at the PN-PD coalition, calling them a coalition of confusion.

"Who would we have as ministers tomorrow, Josie Muscat as family minister?." She also turned to PN Leader Simon Busuttil, and said that "he can't decide his position of Spring Hunting, saying one thing to one person, and something else to another."

Referring to the last BA debate and PD Leader Marlene Farrugia's performance, Dr Schembri said that "Dr Farrugia did not even manage to conclude one single programme without a hassle. Imagine what serenity and stability government would have if the coalition of confusion was in Cabinet deciding what will happen to malta, the youths, unemployment etc."

In response, Dr de Marco unleashed a bombardment against the Labour Party.  He brought up this snap election, and in turn put the government's stability into question. "Stability for a government who after four years called an early election?.  Not because they wanted to call an election now, but because Joseph Muscat brought instability onto himself. For first time we have a Prime Minister under magisterial inquiry and the people around him are being investigated by the money laundering unit. This is the reason this election had to be called. "

"This is not an ordinary election. Usually an election has two parties with national interest in mind. This election was only called for Joseph Muscat's personal interest.  If had national interest at heart, would have resigned, let inquiry conclude and then call election after.  Instead he called an election while the inquiry against him is ongoing.  I am amazed, seeing Godfrey Farrugia letter, a person who always had the PL at heart, saying it is only the Labour Party in name, that it lost its moral fibre, that the agenda of the few is being pushed forward."

"I have no doubt what he said is not only his sentiment, but that many labourites who hold the values of workers and social justice at heart cannot continue to recognize yesterday's Labour Party in today's. This is not Mintoff's Labour Party. It is not Alfred Sant's Labour Party. This is not the Labour Party that truly has the workers at heart when it only gives them a €1.75 raise. This is not the party of Social Justice when it does not even build one social housing apartment, but gives €1 million to Vista Jet."

Dr de Marco said that this is not an election between the PN or PL, it is an election surrounding one question, "do I care about this country? Will it always remain divided between who is a Labourite and who is a nationalist? The time has come for different politics. The time has come to say that Malta, its principles, youths and workers come first, before anything else. The time has come to put aside our differences, but we do this not by calling a quick election for the Prime Minister to try and safeguard his personal interests. Honestly, we should do politics differently as that it what the Maltese deserve."

PN MP Marthese Portelli, asked about the PN education proposals, said that one of the main proposals was for free transport for all students. "It is a studied proposal and we spoke to stakeholders, including parents who prefer to drive their children to school. This is an initiative we need to take seriously as it will help families and will also alleviate the traffic situation."

"€300,000 a year is wasted due to traffic," she added. "When the PN, a year ago, proposed a number of traffic measures, the PL did all it could to ridicule those proposals, yet today the PL is saying it will take this proposal onboard, to offer free transport to everyone. The question at hand is one of credibility. Government was elected on the basis of a roadmap, yet four years past and nothing happened," Marthese Portelli criticized.

"The PN have a number of other initiatives, including that government should lead by example. We believe government should arrange collective transport for its workers."

"We have a long-term system that would give us express-rapid transport, where we would have a transport system part-underground, part over-ground, divided into different stages. We will tackle things locality by locality and it would conclude after some time. We spoke with international experts on this proposal who told us it is doable both financially and from a technical level. We, in opposition, did not just criticize government on the negative things they have done, but we made a number of proposals."

Turning to accountability and transparency, she mentioned a number of proposals government "failed to keep."

"They promised social housing, a power station in two years, a permanent link between Malta and Gozo, a fast-ferry service, solutions for parking, good wages for workers, they promised that they would not privatise Enemalta, but the first thing they did was privatise it."

Parliamentary secretary Deborah Schembri stressed that the PL government kept its promises, mentioning a new university, free tablets for year four students, stipends being increased and also offered it to repeat students, as well as a holistic reform in education."

 "We have a number of proposals and we have the credibility to implement what we promise. We will remove exam costs for SEC and MATSEC, and such exams will take place in their actual schools." She mentioned that the PL will improve the salaries for teachers, School Heads and Deputy Heads. She said that apprentice students will be given the minimum wage. "We will continue prioritizing education, as it helps pull people out of poverty. "

Dr Schembri turned to the government's work over the past four years. She spoke of reduced taxes for working women and in-work benefits. "The people are responding well to what we implemented." She said that government is helping the middle-class and businessmen. "We incentivised businesses employing persons with disability, and today there are more than 1,000 in employment."

"The PN is saying that there should be summer schools for persons with disability. "We already introduced this," she said, mentioning four schools. "The PN did not even realise this. Not only does the opposition not have proposals, but they have not realised what we have done".

PL candidate Julia Farrugia Portelli said that the PN pledged  that pensions up to €13,000 would not be taxed. "Have they not realized that this government was not taxing these people on their pension?" She said that Malta has experienced the highest reduction in poverty over the past weeks. She also said that over the past three weeks, government announced that exams will be free for students.

She said that everything government promised is costed. She asked: "who would people trust, if there was an election between the two parties with the same proposals, who would people trust? Joseph Muscat's track record, or that of Simon Busuttil? What were the Simon Busuttil's achievements over the past years? In 2013 he said that if you were a repeater you wouldn't receive the stipend. Joseph Muscat did the opposite. Before the 2013 elections, Simon Busuttil said that we must get used to medicines out of stock. The Pl government reduced medicines out of stock to zero. These are the facts. Simon Busuttil abstained on Civil Unions, in contrast Joseph Muscat did not fear taking decisions." 

Farrugia Portelli took the opporunity to accuse Simon Busuttil of having accepted undeclared donations from the db Group, while saying that Dr de Marco himself had worked for them as a lawyer.

The PL candidate said that contrary to the Prime Minister, Simon Busuttil has been mudslinging this whole campaign.

Mentioning PL proposals, she, amongst others, spoke of the tax refund for everyone who works,

She also took a pot shot at the PN - PD coalition.  "You can't even say Simon Busuttil is the head of the PN, as there are two heads of the National Coalition."

Air Malta

The issue of Air Malta also came up during the debate.  Dr Mario de Marco was discussing tourism, and mentioned that it was the PN who had brought major festivals to the island like the Baroque festival, and the Isle of MTV. He said that government moved away from the plan that had been laid out, and spent months on pointless discussions with Alitalia that was losing €500,000 per day. "the discussions failed and the workers do not know their future."

He said that government is now saying it is holding discussions with other partners, yet everything is kept hidden.

Dr Mario de Marco stressed on the importance to work on a tourism strategy focusing on tomorrow.

PL candidate Julia Farrugia, addressing the issue, said that the PL wants to save Air Malta, in the same way that it saved Enemalta." PN wanted to sell Enemalta for €1. The Prime Minister was clear that if the deal was not in the interest of Malta, then there would be no agreement." She stressed that government will continue working until an ideal partner is found.

She then turned her guns on transparency and accountability, stating that the PN either tries to scare people, or copies others ideas.

"Tell people how you used to handle major project contracts, like Liquigas and Maltco.  In these contracts, there is a clause which reads that they can never be published.  This government took all major  contracts and published them, bar the parts which are commercially sensitive."