There was something of a buzz in Valletta on Saturday morning, as the 15th legislature since Malta's independent officially began with the swearing in of the 79 MPs elected in the 30 May general election and processes that followed.
Veteran MP Carmelo Abela was appointed as Speaker, bringing to an end the 13-year tenure of Anglu Farrugia in the post, while the PN's former leader Bernard Grech was appointed Deputy Speaker.
This kickstarts the new legislature - the Labour Party's fourth consecutive one in power - with it come hopes that MPs within the House will act fully in the interest of the country.
This moment also offers a reflection on what a better Parliament may look like in the next five years.
Firstly, it would be great to see a Parliament which takes more accountability for itself. For instance, the last legislature saw hundreds of Parliamentary Questions go unanswered - something which the then Speaker said that his hands were tied on.
Parliament's current Standing Orders render him powerless to act when an MP fails to reply to a parliamentary question, and changing those would require cross-party consensus which - at least during the last legislature - there appears to be no appetite for.
There are plenty of other matters where there is an opportunity for parliamentary reform.
The time limit for an MP to be allowed to speak is one. This has already improved compared to the past, where debates would go on for hours without any limit, but the current time limits are still higher than in equivalent institutions across Europe.
Another is in the resources that are allocated to Parliament. MPs in Malta are in effect part-timers - which means that unless they are part of Cabinet, they are still working in their day job. It is necessary for Parliament to have more resources allocated so that these MPs can be supported by researchers who will ultimately help them offer better contributions in their interventions which will, in turn, improve Parliament's output for the country.
The debate on Ministers' Declarations of Assets will no doubt be a significant one, particularly in the first few months of the new legislature, and one can only hope that there is a sense of transparency that is maintained and that isn't easy for MPs to simply drift around.
One aspect that Speaker Anglu Farrugia had spoken about in the past is the concept of the Citizens' Right of Reply as well. When MPs speak in Parliament, they speak under parliamentary privilege, which means that they are immune from legal action for what they say.
Farrugia had proposed - all the way back in 2015 - that a citizen is granted a right of reply if they feel aggrieved by something that was said about them in Parliament. This is a reform on which there has been little to no appetite for reform on, but which would allow citizens to protect their own rights should they feel aggrieved by anything that is said about them in Parliament.
The final point - and this is one that Farrugia himself made in his final Sette Giugno address as Speaker earlier this month - is that respect for Parliament is paramount.
This encompasses both how Parliament is portrayed and treated by political parties and leaders, and how each MP speaks and behaves within. "I want to be very clear: Respect for this institution has to be absolute. Not just a formality. Not just decoration. Not only beautiful words for the occasion, but a moral, constitutional and national right," he said.
This is, after all, the highest institution in the land - and like a teacher must set a good example for their students, our MPs must set a good example for those who have elected them.