The government must explain why Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia wasn't present in Parliament during a parliamentary question session, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech has said.

Last week there was a commotion during question time in Parliament. Opposition members wanted to ask Transport and Infrastructure Minister Aaron Farrugia some questions related to his ministry, such as about the incident concerning two Transport Malta officers who were suspended after being caught on camera beating up a person who was lying face down on the ground. But Farrugia was not in the chamber when the session started on Tuesday.

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.

Speaker Anglu Farrugia delivered a ruling on the issue, and spoke about ministers' responsibilities.

During an interview on NET TV on Sunday, Grech was asked about Aaron Farrugia and the incident in Parliament.

Grech said that Farrugia must go to parliament and answer questions, "as the people have a right to the whole truth."

He said that if Malta has an arrogant Prime Minister who pretends he can do whatever he wants, then ministers are also going to do the same. He said Aaron Farrugia doesn't want to answer questions in Parliament. "Ministers have an obligation to be present in Parliament to answer questions."

"The PN uncovered it was a lie that Farrugia was out on official work," he said, adding that an MP was in the lift with him a few minutes before the session, "so the lie was uncovered."

If Farrugia told the PL Whip he was on official business, then he lied to the Whip, Grech said. "If it's not true and the whip tried to cover for him, the whip lied to parliament."

Farrugia failed the speaker, failed parliament. Failed the people, Grech said. That is why the Speaker in his ruling said that it wasn't right to have a minister decide not to answer questions, not to come when he could come to answer questions, Grech added. He said that winning an election doesn't mean doing whatever you want, but that one needs to remain accountable to the people.

Grech was asked about the ombudsman and standards commissioner situation.

The Office of the Prime Minister had announced that Prime Minister Robert Abela tabled two motions in Parliament to nominate former Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi and retired Judge Joseph Zammit McKeon to the posts of Standards Commissioner and Ombudsman respectively.

The Opposition has agreed with the proposal for Judge Joseph Zammit McKeon to be appointed to the post of Ombudsman, but has not agreed with the nomination for the Standards Commissioner's post.

Grech said that the Prime Minister had presented two names for the posts of Ombudsman and Standards Commissioner and the PN agreed with one of the names put forward. "But the Prime Minister also expects us to agree with the other name. This is Robert Abela, an arrogant person who must always have his way."

"While I bow my head to the will of the people, the will of the majority, this does not mean that because Abela won the election he can do whatever he wants. There is a procedure that says that the Ombudsman and Standards Commissioner must be appointed through a 2/3rds majority. These are important posts and the reason there is the need for agreement from both sides is so that it can work without interference in the best interest of all the people, with the backing of at least 2/3rds of Parliament."

"After I have been pressing him for the past year and a half to reach agreement and appoint an Ombudsman, finally he took a decision, but he wants his way to pass on everything. Politics needs more maturity than that. We have our reasons for accepting Joseph Zammit McKeon and we agreed, but we also have our reasons as to why we are not agreeing with this imposition of the person Abela wants to be appointed as Standards Commissioner."

"Every now and then I question whether Abela is doing this on purpose to keep the position vacant, so that he would continue having an institution that is asleep?" Abela knows that as soon as he pushes forward this nomination he will not have the backing of the opposition," Grech said.

He invited Abela to come back to the discussion table and find agreement on a person who can have the trust of both sides of Parliament so that it can function.

Turning to the Opposition's calls for the resignation of Culture Minister Owen Bonnici over the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra sexual harassment scandal, Grech said that one cannot have a minister who fails in implementing their duty when faced with such a serious allegation.

A senior official at the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra was placed under a restraining order, as well as given a suspended sentence, after admitting to having sexually harassed a young female orchestra musician over a span of more than three years. Separately, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra CEO Sigmund Mifsud was charged with tampering with evidence after he allegedly instructed MPO employees to keep quiet about a sexual harassment scandal.

Grech said the minister, weeks before the story broke, knew of the sexual abuse allegations in the MPO but instead of taking steps, tried to control the story.

He said that the minister called a Net News journalist to try and convince the journalist that things are not as they were. He said that the minister took a personal interest, "what interest did he have in controlling the story?"

He spoke about the changes in the criminal code regarding abortion. "They are trying to attack us, saying that we are without a position on this on this amendment," he said of the PL.

He said that so far in parliament, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard proposed the first reading of the bill called to amend the criminal code. "We have nothing in terms of how they want to amend it. They want us to have a position without them having given us the amendments they want to table in parliament. Can you have a position on something not yet put forward before parliament?"

He pledged that the PN will take a position, once they see the amendments.  "Once we see them we will pass them through our party structures, discuss them and then yes, we will take a decision. That position will be public."