Voters should be the change they want to see in the country and send the government a clear message in the June elections, Bernard Grech told supporters on Sunday.

Malta goes to the polls on June 8 to elect local councils and members of the European Parliament. 

"Be the change you want to see, use your vote to send out a message to the government and choose the people you want to represent you wisely," Grech said at the end of the Nationalist Party's annual general council meeting at the Pietà headquarters.

"You can make a difference. You can begin to redeem and heal this country and help us send out a message of hope that a better future awaits on June 8. This is why I humbly ask you to vote for all PN candidates," he said.

(Grech's speech begins at 01:21:48) 

Grech said the elections would not change those who run the country but this would be an opportunity for the people to show the powers that be that they had failed families, young people and the elderly, especially in properly addressing the cost of living, and in infrastructural planning.

The PN's annual general council was held at the party headquarters in Pietà on Sunday. Photo: PN

"No matter what the government says, everyone knows and feels that prices have gone out of control," he said.

"It was unfair, he added, that the government taxed the cost of living adjustment given precisely to counter inflation, and the PN was therefore reiterating its promise to remove this tax and also introduce tax credits for employers to cushion their costs so that they would not pass them on to clients. 

Moreover, the PN was working on a plan for a new economic model that would not be based on cheap, exploitative labour, but on high-quality, high-skilled jobs.

Grech hit out at the transport and traffic situation, observing that the government had spent €700 million in EU funds only to make the traffic situation worse.

"It goes to show that the government lacks a plan for effective and efficient transport. A PN administration will, for instance, introduce dedicated bus lanes," he said, adding that another solution would be to have minor court cases heard in their respective districts, to avoid an influx of people having to go to Valletta every day, adding to traffic.

"They spend money on marketing to show us the same road being inaugurated two, three, or four times, because that's exactly how many times they dig them up," he said.

He also hit out at the Labour administration for discarding the environment, saying it was very fitting for people to refer to Project Green as Project Greed.