The festive season is upon us, and while we take some time to spend with our loved ones and friends, it is also good to reflect on our achievements in the past year, while gearing up for the new one.

Personally, I am concluding this year with a sense of satisfaction. As I reflect on the work we have championed in Parliament and beyond, I feel encouraged by how we have managed to give new purpose to the role of the Opposition. Driven by the renewed energy brought about by the PN's new leadership, we have started to make a difference, even leading the national agenda in many cases. More than ever, the role of the Opposition is to offer clarity, coherence and a vision of hope for the long-term national interest.

Focussing on two pivotal moments of the past year, I cannot but single out our contributions to the much overdue migration policy, and my bill to recognise the environment as a fundamental right for every Maltese and Gozitan. For me, these two instances were all about safeguarding Malta's future, giving our children the hope to live in a better country than we have inherited.

Earlier in the year, we presented our analysis of the Government's Labour Migration Policy. In our contribution, we clearly noted how you cannot craft a responsible migration framework in isolation from a clear economic model that defines who we are and where we want to go. In fact, the Government's policy lacked this, as it was a reactive piece of legislation, rather than a much-needed forward-looking policy.

The Labour Migration Policy responded belatedly to demographic pressures without linking labour flows to strategic economic sectors or long-term sustainability. Our proposal insisted that immigration policy must be rooted in a vision for growth that supports quality of life, infrastructure capacity and social cohesion. In a period where population expansion has been taking place at an unprecedented and alarming rate, clarity to the country's economic model is monumentally critical.

Same with the proposed bill to enshrine the right to a healthy environment in the Constitution, which I had the privilege to table on behalf of the Opposition, as its first proposed bill under the new leadership.

Sadly, the bill was shot down by Government, strangled in its cradle to use a crude image, as it resorted to a heinous whispering campaign of deceit and disinformation. What could have been a solid safeguard for our environmental future, was turned into a political football.

We argued how environmental quality shouldn't be an add-on to public policy but a prerequisite for well-being and justice. Our communities are straining under pressures from air pollution, congested transport networks and the loss of green spaces. Declaring the right to a clean and healthy environment would have affirmed that protection of our natural surroundings is a collective obligation as much as an individual right.

These two efforts, broad long-term economic vision and profound environmental rights are at the heart of a purposeful Opposition of hope.

They are two sides of the same coin. Without a sustainable economy that considers long-term resource limits and workforce needs, we risk eroding the very quality of life we seek to protect. And without a healthy environment, no economic model can deliver the flourishing society we aspire to build. Both initiatives challenge short-term thinking and call for policy grounded in durability rather than expediency.

The debates have not been easy. There have been moments in Parliament that felt less like reasoned deliberation and more like political theatre. Yet even in the face of entrenched positions, I remain confident that we can be successful in the long run.

On a personal note, 2025 will also remain in my heart as it was the year when I married my best friend. Perhaps the festive season is the best time to publicly thank Miriana for her unrelenting support.

Turning our gaze onto 2026, I look forward to what promises to be a very eventful year indeed. May the new year bring with it new hope for a better life for all.

I wish a blessed Christmas to all the readers of this newspaper, and a prosperous new year.

Dr Darren Carabott is the Chairperson of the PAC and Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Security