Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia chastised Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia for avoiding attending a Parliamentary sitting to answer the PN's questions about the assault by Transport Malta officials on a man in Marsa, despite having been in Parliament on Tuesday.

During a ruling on Wednesday, the Speaker said that he wanted to emphasize and send a clear message that parliamentary sittings must be attended.

"Ministers should always act in such a way that they follow the highest standards and in this case, there was an incident making headlines in the media, an issue which fell directly under the remit of the transport minister," Speaker Farrugia said.

He continued that whilst ministers answer for another minister in parliament regularly, Minister Farrugia should have been in parliament.

The speaker said that the chair feels that all ministers should shoulder ministerial responsibility even if he cannot force a minister to attend parliament.

Minister Farrugia was due to answer a question about a zebra crossing in Attard, which the PN had used as an opportunity to ask a number of supplementary questions about the attack by TM officials.

Parliamentary questions for Minister Farrugia were instead answered by Culture Minister Owen Bonnici and government Whip Andy Ellul, who had told the House that Farrugia was absent on official business.

It was revealed, however, that Minister Farrugia was indeed inside parliament, as a Times of Malta reporter was able to ask him questions outside parliament at 4pm.

The speaker said that while it has no power to order ministers and MPs to be present, he feels ministers should do their duty and what is expected of them.

The speaker also said it was a shortcoming from Farrugia's end, insisting the minister's behaviour should be in line with the code of ethics.

He concluded that ministers should inform the speaker beforehand if they are to miss a parliamentary sitting.