The Environment & Resources Authority (ERA) has to work more transparently, and not as if it is “keeping secrets”, PN MP and spokesperson for the Environment Robert Cutajar told parliament in a discussion on a private member’s bill on Thursday.

Parliament was discussing amendments proposed by the PN and tabled by Cutajar to the Environment Protection Act.

The aim of this Bill is to ensure due publicity of all the proceedings of the Environment and Resources Authority, hence giving the public and any non-governmental organisations promoting environmental protection early and effective opportunities to participate in the proceedings of the same Authority, together with access to a review procedure before the Tribunal.

The ERA is a government authority entrusted with safeguarding the local environment thus ensuring a sustainable quality of life for better wellbeing. There has been mounting pressure on the authority to be more transparent, as certain decisions which it took as of late.

Cutajar said that this Bill is “inspired by good governance, transparency, and consultation.”

“Even though we are in Opposition, we are pushing for this as we believe that the environment is important for our country, and that the ERA can be more transparent in its work,” he declared.

This Bill was endorsed by six NGOs, the chairman of the ERA, and even by Labour MEP Alfred Sant, he said.

Cutajar said that the PN is taking into consideration the constant “negative reporting” regarding the environment in our country.

“We are sending a clear message that the PN is moving from words to facts. Not a single day passes where you don’t see negative reporting about the state of the environment in our country. This is not what we were promised under the PL,” he said. “Today I ask: Have people really inherited a better environment?”

Cutajar said that, in a recent interview, Minister for Environment Aaron Farrugia admitted that the environment was not a priority for the Government, and “it is on record”.

He also claimed that the Government has failed in the separation of waste; “the Auditor General is saying this, not the PN”.

This is different with the PN, he claimed, as the PN wants to safeguard the environment and it is “not saying that just through words, but through action”.

“We are learning from the mistakes which the government is doing, and even those that happened in the past,” he said.

Cutajar said that the ERA should work in a more transparent manner like the Planning Authority works, “not working as if it is keeping secrets”.

Apart from this Bill, he said that the PN is considering introducing a new Bill in the future to reduce the abuse done by authorities such as Infrastructure Malta and the Water Service Corporation.

He also said that the government had blamed the PN about local plans that were implemented in 2006, “but what have they changed from them?” He said he is willing to sit with the minister to discuss their shortcomings.

The time is nigh for “puppets” to stop “following orders from above which resulted in the destruction of the environment”, Cutajar said.