Prime Minister Robert Abela has condemned the Nationalist Party for its treatment of the local police and the disciplined forces, saying that the party has tried to belittle the police "at every opportunity."
Abela called for the PN to retract its sustained attitude towards these law enforcement officers, which he said it has continued to put on display through its comments.
The Prime Minister said that the Nationalist Party was wrong to issue the "false statement" that Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà had recently increased his own salary.
On Wednesday, 16 October, PN expressed its criticism that Gafà was not only given another term as police commissioner, in spite of all his "shortcomings at the helm of the Malta Police Force," but also saw his salary "practically double." According to reports, Gafà is now on an annual salary of €107,438.
During Monday's plenary session in Parliament, the Prime Minister called for the Opposition to cut out this attitude against Police Commissioner Gafà, arguing that every such comment "sheds a really bad light against the entirety of the police corps" and is disrespectful to all its members. Abela also said that he can sustain his comments through his experience as lawyer to police.
PN's Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Darren Carabott, formally interrupted Abela's intervention to describe the erupted outrage over Gafà's new six-figure salary. Speaker of the House Anġlu Farrugia rejected the PN MP's call that a point of order had been conducted by the Prime Minister.
At this instance, PM Abela stated that through Carabott's comment, everyone is able to see that he in fact needs to defend the police against PN's verbal attacks. Abela argued that all attacks against Gafà are attacks against all police since he is the figurehead of the whole police force.
Similarly, the Prime Minister said that the active government has been very supportive to the disciplined forces through several offered initiatives and more opportunities, "unlike the Opposition, who at every opportunity has attempted to belittle them."
Later in the plenary session, PN's Joe Giglio stated that he, on behalf of the Nationalist Party, has never attacked Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà as a person amidst all its criticisms against the Police Force's operations.
"God forbid we don't let our voices be heard when we believe they should be," he said.
He also remarked that the Bill currently in discussion - which refers to amendments in the Criminal Code that should invoke greater deterrents against persons who opt to resort to violence - will be fruitless to avoid physical altercations with police if the government does not invest in the disciplined forces training, resources, and overall work.
PN's Ivan Castillo later said it is "shameful" that the Prime Minister would "continue lying" after Carabott's point of order.
"It is shameful that the government would insist that the Opposition is somehow showing disrespect to the police," Castillo said.
PL backbencher Michael Farrugia supported the Prime Minister's comments and agreed on the sense of disrespect referred to earlier through the Opposition's criticisms. He also noted that "what was said was far from the truth."
Farrugia spoke of scaremongering inside Parliament before remarking that the police must be working well, and be empowered to do so, if crime rates continue to decrease year after year.
He then concluded that respect to the police by the parties can be seen in how each respective party's administration prioritised the Force's working conditions, speaking negatively on PN's time in power. Farrugia said that under the Nationalist Party's administration, working conditions were far worse than they are now. He described that there was great injustice years ago when the PN government refused to pay for all the extra hours' worth of overtime worked by police officers.
"It had to be the Labour Party for all the injustices that were taken against workers, including against the police, were compensated for," Farrugia said, "That is respect."