Parliament's debate during the second reading stage of the government's proposed magisterial inquiry reform bill concluded on Tuesday, with a vote to be held on Wednesday.

Justice Minister Jonathan Attard, closing off the debate, said that the government will not remove any legitimate rights of citizens.

Attard said that the reform is wide, complete, and being done with the aim of enacting justice while also giving new and stronger rights to victims. He said that the reform introduces further accountability as well as realistic timelines.

The Justice Minister questioned whether the Nationalist Party is against victims knowing the progress of magisterial inquiries relevant to them. He further questioned if the Opposition is against addressing "injustices" which he claimed occur in various procedures, accountability for experts, and timelines for the conclusion of inquiries being made clear. Having said that, Attard remarked that it seems the Opposition is against all of that and more, as he further commented that the alternative politics which the PN believes in are "medieval politics".

Attard said that the justice reforms enacted by the government have bore fruit, including the increase in the number of magistrates to handle inquiries. He continued that the initiative to have more magistrates handling inquiries should also be accompanied by a legislative reform on inquiries.

Attard said that the argument which seems to have most captured the Opposition is that every citizen, irrespective of if they are a victim, is having their rights reduced. "Their rights are being strengthened," he said, as he continued that each person at every stage of the procedures will have the right of remedy that they may invoke.

The Justice Minister said that the government believes in justice which addresses injustice and does not leave more victims at the end of the process. He continued that justice should be more effective and efficient, and added that the government is working towards this with the reforms it brings forward.

Attard referred to statements made by PN MP Mark Anthony Sammut earlier in the parliamentary session, where Sammut had said that Prime Minister Robert Abela is prejudicing a case with his words in parliament. Attard remarked that the only Prime Minister who has been found guilty by a court of prejudicing a case was a nationalist Prime Minister.

Earlier in parliament, Sammut had also commented that the government is responsible for the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia, as well as the deaths of fourteen prisoners, to which he said that the Prime Minister has continued to defend former prison director Alex Dalli, who Sammut said was responsible for what took place within the prison. The PN MP added that the Daphne Caruana Galizia inquiry stated that the government was complicit in the cultivation of the culture of impunity which resulted in the journalist's death.

Attard questioned if that is the alternative politics that some want to push forward. He referred to such politics as politics of attacks and accusations, remarking that it is lacking in righteousness. He added that Sammut had misquoted a public inquiry in order to misattribute things to the government.

"The people know this is not our politics," Attard commented, as he added that the PN "even brought back their friend Simon Busuttil" so that he may give the country a lesson about European rights.

Attard also took aim at a former chief justice. He spoke of "the deplorable behaviour" of Chief Justice Emeritus Silvio Camilleri, who Attard said was "handpicked by the Nationalist Party". The Justice Minister referred to comments made by Camilleri, in which Attard said that the Chief Justice Emeritus had commented that he always considered people who support the Labour Party to be stupid people.

Attard questioned if people believe that there was no corruption under nationalist governments, and then stated that it needed to be a labour government from 2013 which has led with strong reformative initiatives in justice.

He said that Adrian Delia, who was the Leader of the Opposition at the time, had said that the government should implement every proposal presented by the Venice Commission, including making it so magisterial inquiries would be under the Attorney General. "The government did not want to go to that extreme," Attard said, as he added that the government wanted to maintain the role of the inquiring magistrates. He continued that if the government wanted to reduce or eliminate the role of inquiring magistrates, then it would have adopted the recommendations. Furthermore, he said that the independence of the magistrates is not being touched by the government's reforms.