It hasn't been a week since you have taken the reins of the Nationalist Party, so understandably things are still extremely fresh for everyone, no less for you. However, as you have pointed out on multiple occasions, the circumstances of these momentous times are especially challenging, and certainly there is no time for the proverbial honeymoon. This, you have shown immediately, in a brand of momentum which is only bound to grow in the coming weeks.

I do not wish to waste these few lines waxing lyrical about the successes of our glorious party. Those victories, while making us proud, belong to the people who achieved them. We have victories ahead of us to work hard for and achieve.

Ahead of us is a steep uphill struggle, as the bottomless resources of government have already started showing. The broadside attack which was unleashed in the past days through doctored clips and stomach-churning statements are only the beginning of what promises to be a dirty ordeal ahead.

I believe the Nationalist Party has the right elements, values and ideas needed to truly provide an alternative government for Malta. Our Parliamentary group is constituted by excellent dedicated professionals who love their country and are brimming with energy to bring about the necessary changes in numerous fields.

The quality of debate during our parliamentary group meetings, as you know, is phenomenal. But our message is not reaching everyone.

We need to change the way we send our message, as in the past years we have struggled to reach crucial parts of the electorate. We have the content, but the medium leaves much to be desired.

I commend the way you have run your campaign, showing a true generational shift in communication. It is obvious that you have successfully managed to communicate your ideas with a new audience who may have been alienated by the party in the past, and this augurs well.

However, now we need to translate this energy on a national level, reaching all the electorate.

The content is there. As you are aware, with no resources to speak of, simply from the pure grit and drive of our Parliamentary group, in the past years, from the Opposition benches we have produced an endless list of proposed policy documents addressing problems in all sectors under the sun. In some cases, we have even managed to affect the public agenda, forcing government's hand.

Unfortunately, however, if you had to ask the man in the streets about the work of the Opposition, it is highly likely that they wouldn't be capable of recalling much. The message is there, but it's getting stuck in the noise.

Because there is a lot of noise. Government's endless resources for publicity and spin have never been so flagrant and appalling. Switching on the national broadcaster will automatically open the floodgates for a long and expensive procession of spots and adverts, all shiny and glitzy, advertising the supposed wonders of this government, and its state-funded authorities and agencies.

How do you compete with that? I believe that the electorate is starting to see through the sham and are craving, more than ever a new kind of politics that treats them as intelligent mature adults. A new brand of politics which places policies first and throws gimmicks out of the window.

The next election will probably be contested on authenticity, and here we have a winning edge.

While promising you my dedication and loyalty, I look forward to working alongside you and the rest of the team, to give our country the new beginning it so desperately needs and deserves.

Dr Darren Carabott is the Opposition's Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Security and Reforms, and President of the Public Accounts Committee