Updated 10:20pm with PN reaction

A Labour government can tackle and overcome Malta’s biggest issues and people must maintain their faith it can overcome issues of labour migration, the environment, and improve quality of life, Robert Abela pledged on Tuesday.

In a two-hour speech in parliament, the prime minister said Labour has listened to people and will, once again, transform the country for the better.

He did so as he relentlessly attacked Bernard Grech and the Nationalist Party for its reaction to Budget 2025.

“Don’t let anyone dishearten you – the future is bright,” he said, responding to the PN leader's reaction the budget. 

Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The prime minister said the government's success was down to its ability to grow the economy at the fastest rate in the EU. 

The economy doubled the country’s GDP since 2013, thanks to investment in infrastructure, education, and social services and the fact that, unlike previous PN administrations, the government opted to bring about change through incentives, not austerity.

People have more money in their pockets and the economy is so strong that the government is now spoilt for choice. 

Whereas tourism numbers have so far been the main measure of success in the industry, the country now needs to focus on tourists' spending power.

Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Four out of every 10 tourists opt to stay at apartments and the government plans to crack down on the inconveniences that some of them sometimes create for the neighbours.

Crucially, the sector needed to invest in higher standards of hospitality sectors – through the already-implemented skills pass and in further re-skilling and upskilling.

A new tourism policy will soon be launched for public consultation to strengthen the sector in light of the country’s new priorities, he added.

New labour migration policy

Another policy that will be launched by the end of the year addresses labour migration.

Every growing economy needs foreign workers to move forward, he said, but it was the PN which planned to allow the uncontrolled importation of foreign workers, and not the government.

He constantly referred to a PN pre-budget document that the party chose not to publish, which was leaked by Labour.

Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

“With the Nationalist Party you don’t know where you stand, and when you promise everything to everyone, you lose credibility. Conversely, people know where they stand with us,” he said.

He stressed the government will be heavy-handed with employers who abuse workers, irrespective of their nationality, and will not allow them to employ foreign, instead of local workers, just so they pay them less.

“We don’t believe workers should be used and squeezed like lemons and we will not permit any of those quick money tactics at the expense of workers,” he said.

“For years, temping agencies were allowed to operate unregulated, both under PN and our administrations, to be clear. For the first time we reformed that sector.”

Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Turning to taxation, he said 18,000 more people will not pay a cent in income tax next year while the government continues to subsidise energy bills and provide an additional COLA for those who need it the most.

“The PN told us energy subsidies were unsustainable but we will continue to hand them,” he said, turning to Grech. 

“If I were in your position I would criticise the government for not giving more subsidies, and not encouraging them to stop.

“We want you to stay there [as PN leader] even more than your MPs want you,” Abela told Grech.

Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

‘We collected more taxes’

Abela also spoke of the government’s ability to collect tax dues from individuals and businesses without needing to embark on any "witchhunts".

“The country doesn’t need to collect more than it’s already due, but just like workers have their taxes deducted automatically from their salaries, we should also ensure businesses pay up, and that is why we invested in new technology to help us get there,” he said.

He said the PN has yet to submit its audited accounts, and yet it dared to go to parliament preaching about principles and the rule of law. 

“How can the opposition leader be in government and prepare his own budget, send it to the European Commission, get it approved and announce it in time when he cannot even submit his own audited accounts?” Abela said.

The ‘pre-budget document’

This was further evidenced in a half-baked, pre-budget PN document, he added, pulling out the leaked document that Labour published on Monday.

It was and remained a work in progress with measures that the party’s own consultants described as needing to be beefed up, he said. But instead of beefing it up, the PN lost hope and decided not to publish it.

Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The document included basic errors as well, Abela added. It said a PN government would, over eight years, add over 2,000 workers in the financial sector which currently has 15,000 workers. Only, the oppostion failed to notice the sector already boasts of over 18,000 workers.

“You’re not ready to govern. You have no plan and no direction.”

The PN resorted to court to stop PBS from broadcasting clips with information about the budget, he said, but when the clips were sent to NET television to be broadcast as adverts for €1,500, they had no problem airing them.

Abela then went on to list the education and employment opportunities brought about for students and young people, and the salary increases for educators, saying educators under this government are receiving double the salary they had under the PN.

Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Abela said that while the budget retained all the schemes related to the purchase of old, empty properties and properties in urban conservation areas, it needed to do more to encourage people to opt for those properties instead of going for apartments.

“We will focus on helping people renovate old properties and save abandoned ones in our village cores,” he said.

The initiative introduced in Gozo to have all facades made of limestone will be extended to Malta, he said, and the government was finalising an aesthetics policy that would be launched soon.

Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Environment and transport

As for environment and transport, this government raised investment in green and open spaces to €70 million for next year and Malta was the only country that made land and sea public transport free of charge, he said.

He now looks forward to seeing a new set of short- and medium-term measures rolled out to alleviate congestion “relatively immediately” and prepare the country for the longer-term solutions. 

He would not say what the longer-term solutions are, but said that among the first measures to be rolled out, the government was reforming garbage collection and roads cleaning and maintenance and increase enforcement on the roads while improving road works coordination.

“Traffic management must go digital,” he added.

“We will invest in intelligent transport management – in systems that collect and integrate data from our roads and sea and give us real-time solutions to optimise our resources. I’m talking AI and the use of drones.”

As for Gozo, despite Grech’s criticism on Monday, the government was about to cut the ribbon on the island’s “biggest sports investment in history”, Abela said, referring to the Gozo sports complex in Victoria.

Gozo Channel would also be getting a new ferry to be added to its fleet, he promised, among a list of other health and education services and initiatives.

“We know where we want to go and we will get there together. The journey is not easy and I won’t promise you we will be perfect,” Abela said at the end of his two-hour speech.

“But I promise you we will work so that our country creates quality wealth that is distributed among everyone. Quality means serenity and peace of mind for our families and elderly, a future of opportunities, excellent health service, and quality jobs, because we want tomorrow to be better than today.”

'Unrestrained attack on PN'

Responding to Abela's speech, the Nationalist Party said that rather than a forward-looking speech, Abela used the occasion to launch an "unrestrained attack" on the PN.

"Rather than focusing on the people, the Prime Minister seems more concerned with trying to silence the PN", the Opposition said in a statement shortly after Abela's speech.

Describing the PM of being "out of touch", the PN said the Abela government was "out of stock" and "so lacking in its vision for our country that it had to hire foreign experts to develop the Vision 2050."

The Opposition accused Abela of "deceiving the public", pointing to a measure announced in the Budget requiring workers born after 1976 to pay an extra year of National Insurance contributions.

Speaking outside Parliament, Grech said Abela had "no solutions for traffic, pollution, power cuts, the healthcare sector and drainage disposal."

The PN said it would "continue to show its vision for the people and the country, for Maltese and Gozitan families."