ADPD's chairperson Sandra Gauci has questioned the just nature of this year's Budget, saying that the minimum wage increase is still not sufficient enough for those in poverty to deal with the increasing cost of living.

Gauci said that while the announced rise in Malta's minimum wage is "a step in the right direction", she argued that this is "far from what is necessary for a decent living". Moreover, she also mentioned the lack of announced reduction to the expenditure of subsidies. In their initial Budget reaction, ADPD reminded that Finance Minister Clyde Caruana himself had described this level of expenditure in energy to be unsustainable.

The party referenced an independent study carried out by Caritas Malta which identified the level of family income necessary to sustain a family of two adults and two children. This 2020 study found that this bare minimum level of family income was €14,000, around €4000 more than the minimum wage. According to this study, this increase should have grown to €78 per week, rather than the announced €15 over three years.

Gauci said that "what is needed is a permanent increase in the 'temporary COLA' for those at risk of poverty".

ADPD said that while it is positive that the Government has recognized the need to raise the minimum wage, they condemned the lack of transparency in how this level of increase was established. "The criteria used to establish the announced increases are secret", the third party said, "It is not known how the minimum wage agreed between the so-called social partners was worked out".

Furthermore, Gauci made reference to the energy subsidies by highlighting that this was a missed opportunity to encourage a more sustainable way of living. "We are not convinced that the cost of €70,000 per hour in subsidies is necessarily the best way to allocate the limited resources of our country", Gauci said in her statement. In this regard, she stated that "international prices will remain high".

ADPD are proposing for the "basic and essential consumption of electricity for homes" to continue to be subsidized though for the rest of the subsidy to be re-mixed.

Gauci discussed that a reduction in subsidies could utilize this funding for other needed sectors "that really lead to an improvement in life for future generations" such as education, "an urgent transition" to renewable energy sources, and others.

ADPD concluded their statement by highlighting that "there needs to be a wiser use of the limited resources" of the Maltese islands.