Over the past four years serving as Shadow Minister for the Arts and the Creative Economy, I have had the privilege of meeting some of the most talented, passionate and quite frankly interesting people our country has to offer. Artists, musicians, writers, performers, educators, cultural practitioners, restorers and creatives from every corner of Malta and Gozo. They have shown me not only how passionate they are about their craft, but also the immense heritage this country boasts.

This journey has allowed me to understand both the strengths and the shortcomings of this sector. It deepened my appreciation for our cultural heritage, our language and the unique identity that defines us as a people. But it also exposed me to the reality that, culture remains treated as an afterthought, no matter the immeasurable potential that it offers us.

We have always known how wealthy our country is in terms of talent. We have extraordinary people producing remarkable works across different disciplines. Yet in these four years I have experienced how many still feel underappreciated, unsupported and even used only when convenient.

Sadly, these past four years have been one big, missed opportunity. The National Archives still lacks a proper permanent home, the National Library remains neglected, the proposed arts and culture hub in Marsa remains unmaterialised. Important, structural projects remain stalled while the sector survives on its own personal determination and sacrifice.

This is only symptomatic of a government that has led the country by crisis. Nationwide power cuts in summer, sewage flowing into the sea, long hours of gridlock, and impossible hospital waiting lists are just a few examples of a Labour Government that lacks any vision, and that has improvised its way all throughout.

This is the clear difference that exists between the Nationalist Party and Labour.  The PN believes culture should not exist in isolation, but as an intrinsic and crucial part of a broader national vision. Our cultural vision lies at the centre of our political project, as it encapsulates all that makes us who we are, and what we stand for.

For example, our proposed PORT project goes beyond being a venue within a regeneration proposal. It is the physical expression of a new cultural system for Malta. It brings together the spaces and the structures that culture needs in order to grow: rehearsal rooms where work can develop, studios where artists can create, stages where audiences can gather, workshops where technicians can build, archives where memory can be protected and training spaces where young people can find a route into cultural work.

PORT gives that ambition brand-new hope and a brand-new home. It connects education with practice, artists with audiences, performance with production and creativity with long-term opportunity. It gives young people a visible route into the arts, not only as a passion, but as a long-term profession that rewards them with a respectable standard of living. It recognises that culture is work, and that work needs space, infrastructure, training, standards and dignity.

Today, we are increasingly seeing Labour attempting to imitate the proposals and ideas that the PN has long been speaking about. But people can recognise the difference between genuine conviction and political convenience.

For me personally, serving my country in this role has been an honour. It has exposed me to the realities on the ground of a sector I hold dear to my heart. I have enjoyed sharing the joys, and passion of the immensely talented practitioners we have. But also shared in the pains they experience due to poor structures and policy.

It is time to give this sector a new breath of life. It is time to shift from fragmentation to coordination, from cultural activity to cultural capacity, from isolated effort to a national system that allows artists, institutions and communities to grow together.

It is time to give hope to a sector that provides the soul of this beautiful country we call home.