As from the first day of this current month, a total of 95,000 pensioners, 53,000 workers and 15,000 students started to benefit from a global and total increase of more than €56 million worth of measures as announced in the Budget which was presented by the Government last October.
All workers who work overtime, whose basic wage does not exceed €20,000 a year and who do not have a managerial position, have started to be taxed at a preferential rate of 15% on their first €10,000 of overtime income. Over 30,000 workers are benefitting from this measure which, will leave around €6 million in their pockets.
All part-time workers, including those who are self-employed on a part-time basis started, from the 1st of this month, being taxed at a rate of 10% instead of 15% on their income. By means of this measure, the Government is giving those workers back a total of €5 million in income tax deductions. About 23,000 workers will be benefiting from this measure.
Working parents who have children under the age of 23 and benefit from the In-Work-Benefit, have also benefit from improvements in the scheme as follows: couples who are both in employment have seen their income limit raised from €35,000 to €50,000 per year; couples where only one parent is in employment have seen their income limit has risen from €26,000 to €35,000 a year and working single parents have seen their income limit has been raised from €23,000 to €35,000.
Also, from the first of January, all pensioners receiving a retirement pension, widows’ pension or invalidity or non-contributory old-age pension have started to benefit from an increase in their income which globally adds up to €24 million.
Since the beginning of the year, around 15,000 students have also started to benefit from a 10% increase in their stipend. In addition, the stipend will continue to now be given also to those students working up to a maximum of 25 hours per week. This means that the government will be giving students a total increase of €5 million.
While others are focused on the politics of jealousy and hatred, we are focused on that kind of politics which puts people at the very centre of what we do.
Cost of Living
The present Government led by Prime Minister Robert Abela has not increased and will not increase financial burdens and pressures on families and is taking all necessary steps to tackle the burdens caused by international pressures.
Labour has now been consistently presenting budgets, year in year out, which do not introduce any new taxes whatsoever. As if that is not enough, the Government is also intervening where necessary to reduce the pressure on households and businesses as it did with the price of fuel, the price of electricity and the price of gas among others.
All this after one of the greatest pandemics recorded in the recent history of humankind.
COVID-19
As from Monday 7 February 2022 the mandatory presentation of the vaccine certificate to access restaurants, snack bars and clubs, will be removed.
As from 14 February 2022 the mandatory use of the vaccine certificate for access to bars, cinemas, theatres, gyms and fitness centres, pools, spas and saunas will also be abolished.
This is only the first part of the exit plan.
So far, the seven-day quarantine for primary contacts, that is those who had contact with a positive person, was essential in limiting as much as possible the spread of COVID. As cases in the community decrease, it will be possible to lower the quarantine for primary contacts to five days, and eventually removed it altogether.
This is all, of course, good news.
The Government is credible, clear and consistent. On the other hand the Opposition is all over the place as far as COVID-19 is concerned and changes its position from one day to the next according to what is trending on Facebook.
One week it is calling for a total lockdown, on another week it goes on record saying that the vaccine is not the solution. On another day it goes on record agreeing with the Government, only to withdraw that agreement in a matter of a few hours.
The Opposition is populist and inconsistent. It is a complete and utter disaster.
Gozo
Gozo is at the heart of every decision of the Labour Government. I have to immediately applaud my friend Minister Clint Camilleri for his unequivocal, no-nonsense approach. He should be proud of what has been achieved in the last two years.
In the past two years, on average two more Gozitans started working full time and one more Gozitan started working part-time every single day. There are 2,000 more jobs in Gozo now than there were two years ago.
For every two Gozitans who were working in 2012, today we have three and this despite the global pandemic. Also for every one Gozitan who worked with the private sector in 2012, today we have two.
In the last quarter of last year, as many passengers came to Gozo as during the full year of the pandemic.
Shoulder to shoulder with businesses
This is a government which truly believes in the added value which the business sector brings to the economy. During the last two years, the government stood four square behind our businesses, helping them and assisting them through the troubled times of the pandemic.
Truly, we have removed the word "austerity" from the economic manual of the Maltese government, introducing instead the word “investment”.
We will continue to walk together on the road to recovery and we will continue to stand side by side with our businesses.
We will provide them with more schemes. We make sure that they are not burdened with too much red-tape and over-regulation and we will defend them from those who try to scare them and discourage them. We will keep transforming challenges into opportunities.
Opposition against the national interest
Our country should benefit from funding for a hydrogen-ready pipeline, despite all attempts made by Opposition Leader Bernard Grech, here and in Europe, to the contrary.
As already explained by the experts, when this project materializes, all the Maltese and Gozitan people will enjoy cleaner air, will benefit from diversification of sources and also from stability of prices. It is also a project whose sole owner will be, at the end of the day, a state company.
It is very unfortunate, to say the least, that Bernard Grech is fully intent on trying to put spokes in the wheels and disrupt the progress of our country. Criticising the Government is one thing, undermining work which is of benefit to all Maltese and the Gozitans is completely another matter.
The difference between the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party where it comes to the national interest, has never been as clear as it has been in recent days.
Divided Opposition and an Opposition Leader who is led instead of leading
Graziella Galea’s co-option and the tension it created within the Nationalist Party is testament to the situation obtaining within the Opposition.
Upon every decision taken by those who lead the Nationalist Party, cracks come out in the open in matter of seconds.
The same goes for the fight between former Opposition Leader Adrian Delia and the Opposition Leader-who-has-never-been Therese Comodini Cachia. The cracks are for all to see. It is a completely disjointed Opposition.
As if this was not enough, we also had the volte-face on the matter of the appointment of Rosianne Cutajar on the Parliamentary Committee on health. First the Opposition voted in favour of the appointment. Then NGO Repubblika ordered Bernard Grech to object to Ms Cutajar’s appointment as head of this Parliamentary Committee. In a matter of a few hours, Bernard Grech announced the Nationalist Party’s members’ withdrawal from the committee.
This is the behaviour of a “boss” who is continuously told what to do and what not to do by those who put him there after getting rid of Adrian Delia.
The bunch on the Opposition benches is not fit to be a proper Opposition, let alone be an alternative Government!