If the country wants change, it needs to work for it together, PN Leader Bernard Grech said on Monday.

During a political event as part of the party’s Independence Day celebrations, Grech said that the pressing subject of quality of life has been on the agenda for the Opposition for a number of years.

“We need to decide where we want to take our society ourselves,” he said adding that if bad priorities are going to be kept “then the final result is going to be a bad one.”

During the event there were a number of speakers who addressed several issues.

Faculty for Social Wellbeing Dean Andrew Azzopardi, quoting from a recent study done by the faculty, said that it resulted that 73% of abuse sufferers did not find help. Moreover, on the subject of mental health, he said that educators are constantly alerting that self-harm instances amongst students have exploded, which means that there is an imploration for more mental health services within educational institutions.

Whilst referring to other political parties, apart from the governing he said that citizens have two choices, “either accept the narrative that the Opposition is negative or acceopt the narrative and fight back (for change in the country).”

He said that it “is not true that everyone is a rich person on a small scale” and that at the end of the day money is not everything.

Commenting on this, Grech quoted from a speech he had done three years ago where he said that “we might come to a time where we realise that we cannot eat money or concrete”. He said that mental health should be prioritised as at the end of the day, the children of today are tomorrow’s leaders.

Amongst other touched upon subjects there were the LGBTIQ+ community in Gozo, the education sector, problems faced by people with disability and the lack of law enforcement faced by bicycle riders.

Eman Borg from the LGBTIQ+ community in Gozo said that through a study, it resulted that 96% of Gozitan within the minor community felt that they did not feel respected as their Maltese counterparts. He said that this was further strengthened by a recent attack during Pride March event in Gozo. Additionally, when victims went to report the attack, they felt they were not being respected as it was listed as an attack which resulted in minor bodily harm, rather than a planned one on their specific minority.

On the education sector, School Assistant Head Randolph Peresso said that education is key for a better life. He said that educators should be given the respect they deserve from both parents and authorities. On the latter he said that those in power should show their respect by issuing a better pay check instead “of just speaking about it.”

Commenting on this, Grech said that it is important to give teachers the tools and recognition they need to keep teaching tomorrow’s generation. Moreover, he said that a better pay cheque is sure to better the motivation of teachers to continue their career.

Representing the ROTA Committee, Sergio Sammut said that Malta is one of the only four countries, where in court there exists no presumption of liability. In his explanation he said that in foreign court cases, in order to establish tort, the burden of proof (beyond reasonable doubt), falls on the person with the biggest vehicle as “like these laws protects the most vulnerable”. However, he pointed out that such benefit is not in place under the Maltese constitution.

In closing the discussion Grech said that “we need to learn the true value of things,” adding that compassion and respect are key values when it comes to better relationships.

On the PN he said that although it does not have all the solutions “we have solutions, and are not afraid to take decisions which are not a popular opinion”, adding that the opposition has the political will to act “to turn the page over” for a new start leading into a better quality of life.