Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri is "absent and completely silent" in the face of ongoing issues within his Ministry, the Nationalist Party said during a press conference on Thursday.

Nationalist Party MP Darren Carabott referred to big problems in the Identita agency, such as reports that people have been receiving letters in their properties that are addressed to people they have no knowledge of but are registered at their address. Carabott said that there are many cases like this.

He added that Minister Camilleri has "barely reacted" to the request made in Court by Jason Azzopardi for an inquiry into allegations regarding 18,000 false ID cards. Carabott continued that Camilleri has also failed to react to a Court order for a criminal investigation to be made into Identita regarding conflicting reports made by two Identita officials concerning allegations about the issuing of false marriage certificates.

Carabott remarked that the last official communication from Camilleri was on the 30th of July regarding the processing of 160,000 ID cards. The PN MP said that Camilleri is "absent and completely silent", and that he is not capable of speaking to the public and to journalists in order to make his position clear.

Carabott referred to "secret meetings in the Corradino prison between Yorgen Fenech, the Head of Strategy within the prison, and tertiary people outside of the prison". He said that even in this regard, Camilleri did not speak about what was happening.

"These are just some of the cases which have been made public and that we know about, imagine what is going on that we do not know about," he commented.

He said that there is a need for a government "with a spine" as the government "has lost control". He said that there is a need for a government which shows that it is still alive and will react to these situations rather than remain silent.

PN MP Ivan Castillo said that the Opposition has made a challenge to the government, Camilleri, and Prime Minister Robert Abela, to publish the scientific study that they are saying they made in order to identify labour markets and jobs that are saturated.

Castillo said that the PN believes wholly in such studies, referring to them as essential to determine what the country needs. Having said that, he remarked that Abela, Camilleri, Clyde Caruana, and Jobsplus were the same people who, for eleven years, haphazardly brought in "labour-intensive" workers working at a cheap labour rate.

He said that the country is now suffering the consequences of the wrong decisions of a government which is now saying that there is no need for the workers that it has brought in. He questioned what steps the government will be taking to remedy the problems which he remarked were caused by the government itself.

Castillo referred to a parliamentary question posed by MP David Agius on the 22nd of June, in which Castillo said that Agius had asked how many food couriers were employed in Malta, and to which Camilleri replied that there was no category for these workers.

Acknowledging this, Castillo questioned how it is possible for the government to say that this sector is oversaturated if it does not know how many workers are employed in that category of work.

"This is a government without a plan, that works with kneejerk reactions, and has an absent Minister who cannot be found anywhere and who does not speak on serious situations. At the end of the day, he is responsible," the PN MP commented.

Castillo concluded by saying that if these studies have been completed, then the government should publish them with responsibility and transparency. He said that the PN has spent a long time saying that there should be a clear picture of the labour market in the country.

He said that the PN has said this in its economic vision and that it would begin conducting these studies on its first day in government. He added that these studies would be published so that employers, businesses, and agencies would know the direction of the country.

Carabott concluded by saying that Opposition Leader Bernard Grech has taken a clear position and asked Camilleri to act. The MP said that Camilleri should resign and shoulder the political responsibility "as he does not know what is happening in his own Ministry".