Leader of the Opposition Alex Borg said economic growth and a strong GDP are not enough to measure the wellbeing of Malta’s population, arguing that the country should instead focus more closely on whether fewer people were living at risk of poverty and homelessness.

Speaking during a roundtable discussion on social policy on NET TV, Borg said the government’s economic performance should ultimately be judged by whether it was improving people’s quality of life.

“We often hear about GDP, the debt-to-GDP ratio and a strong economy. These are valid points, but they are not everything,” Borg said. He argued that future Budgets should provide clear statistics showing whether the number of people at risk of poverty and homelessness was falling from one year to the next.

“That is where you really see how much the economy is serving people, and not people serving the economy,” he said, adding that quality of life and work-life balance should form part of the assessment of the country’s economic progress.

Borg said around 100,000 people were at risk of poverty and said that such people were too often forgotten from one Budget to another, regardless of which political party was in government.

He made the comments as he outlined a number of areas that he said should feature prominently in discussions ahead of the Budget, including affordable and social housing, education, development and the environment, the family and addiction.

The roundtable, he said, was particularly important during the pre-consultation period ahead of the Budget because it gave a platform to people and organisations representing different sections of Maltese society.

“These are sectors which are often an afterthought when we talk about the Budget,” Borg said, stressing the importance of listening to those working directly in different areas of social policy.

Housing was among the issues he identified as requiring urgent action. Borg pointed to rising property and rental prices and said the situation was creating particular difficulties for young people, couples who had separated and older people who wanted to become homeowners.

He called for dedicated schemes aimed at helping different groups afford their own homes, arguing that more needed to be done to ensure people could realistically become property owners.

Education, he said, should also be treated as a long-term investment rather than as a political tool.

“I always reason that in education you cannot look at it as a mechanism to acquire votes,” Borg said, arguing that politicians had an obligation to invest in education because doing so meant investing in future generations.

He said investment should extend to educators, students and educational infrastructure, while Malta should also revisit its curriculum to ensure it was addressing the needs of contemporary society.

Borg also referred to the challenge of finding a balance between development and the environment, saying Malta needed to address the pressures created by development while safeguarding its surroundings.

The family, meanwhile, should remain at the centre of social policy, he said. Borg stressed the importance of safeguarding the family unit and giving parents the opportunity to spend more time with their children.

He said a stronger family environment depended in part on allowing parents to achieve a better balance between their professional and family lives.

Another major concern raised during the discussion was addiction. Borg referred to visits he had made to Caritas and OASI in Gozo, praising both organisations for the work they do with people experiencing addiction.

He noted that addiction extended beyond drug use, with gambling and alcohol among other problems affecting people in Malta.

Borg questioned whether enough was being done to address these issues, including whether sufficient resources were being invested in the police force to tackle drug trafficking and dismantle trafficking networks.

He also called for greater awareness campaigns highlighting the negative effects drugs could have on young people and vulnerable individuals.

Such campaigns, he suggested, should not only focus on the dangers of drugs but also help people understand how addiction can develop and how it can be prevented.

Borg’s comments placed social outcomes at the centre of his argument about Malta’s economic performance. Rather than relying primarily on headline economic indicators, he said, the country should be asking whether economic growth was translating into tangible improvements in people’s lives.

The test of successive Budgets, he suggested, should therefore be whether they could demonstrate measurable progress in reducing poverty, homelessness and other forms of vulnerability.

Also present at the roundtable discussion were Shadow Minsiter for Social Policy Ivan Bartolo, Caritas spokesperson Marica Cassar, Professor Anna Borg, Professor Kurt Xerri, Moviment Graffitti spokesperson Christine Cassar, and Social Work Consultant Marika Borg Wirth.