Thirteen vigorous years of Labour Government have seen a sustained implementation of profuse measures, benefits and reforms aimed at providing the disability sector with stronger support services and increased public awareness. All in a process of fulfilment of two major principles - equality and inclusion. The payback has been an effective system of various State assistance schemes, better infrastructure, deinstitutionalization, and an established independent living within the community for persons with disabilities.

Social and economic circumstances change and the same can be said about the families and carers who, with the authorities, support and sustain all those who need them, from children to young men and women. Since 2013, every Labour Budget has seen a constant, growing network of enhanced benefits and upgraded schemes that inevitably were like a breath of fresh air in a sector that urgently needed it.

At the very start of the electoral campaign these past few days, Prime Minister Robert Abela announced batches of proposals, among which are  pledges for a new Labour Government to offer even better assistance to parents of children with disabilities.

The first proposal is for government to cover ALL the expenses incurred in providing therapy sessions to under-18 children with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions, including occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy. It is a proposal that will stimulate further our disability sector's growing forte by enabling the parents responsible for taking their children to therapy sessions, or some other hospital appointment, through the provision of five fully-paid and dividable carers-leave days. This will offer them a more practical and ideal way to putting their minds at rest as they go on with their full-hearted dedication to their children.

Malta's economic success is of course a major factor in the everyday lives of most people, no less the disability sector. Only just more than six months ago, the Budget for 2026 included the measure of an annual refund of up to €1000 to parents of children with disabilities to help cover expenses on private therapy sessions. Previously offering only tax credit, the scheme covered sessions from an approved list of therapies. Eligibility was also extended to cover therapy sessions up to 23-year-olds, and to low-income, tax-exempted parents, including those who receive social benefits.

The Prime Minister presented two new proposals in a second batch of Labour pledges. The parents of children with disabilities will now continue to pay a married tax rate until the children are 23 years old, while in the case of children with severe disability, this arrangement will remain in effect for as long as the parents continue to be responsible for their children's wellbeing.

Another proposal specifically aimed at helping parents of children with severe disability and who cannot work to sustain their daylong assistance to them, sees the carers grant - current rate at half the minimum wage - doubled to make it equivalent to a full minimum wage.

The start of this electoral campaign finds Malta in an advantageous economic position against a background of economic, social and geopolitical crises across the globe. With its Manifesto 2026 "Int Malta. Il-Ħolma Tiegħek. Il-Proġett Tagħna", Labour paves the way to another five years of positive change and the further consolidation of a disability sector that has found its just and equal footing in Maltese society as we continue to turn words into deeds.

Julia Farrugia is Minister for Inclusion and Voluntary Sector