A number of environment NGOs have expressed disappointment that Church organisations which have not been registered under the Voluntary Organisations Act are to be given a ministerial exemption, enabling them to benefit from l-Istrina funds.

Birdlife Malta, Friends of the Earth Malta, Malta Organic Agriculture Movement, Nature Trust Malta, Ramblers Association of Malta and Zminijietna said the Voluntary Organisation Act made it mandatory for all NGOs to register in order to be able to benefit from State funding and donations.

Some Church organizations have not registered under this act, for reasons best known to themselves. Yet the responsible minister intended to give them a blanket exemption in order to enable them to benefit from state funding via the Malta Community Chest Fund (now declared a state organisation).

"The NGOs believe that this situation, whereby legislation is passed through parliament only for the minister concerned to give blanket exemptions for unknown reasons, besides creating a possibly-dangerous precedent, can only perpetuate the notion that laws are only there for certain sections of the population, and that the government will bend over backwards, including disregarding its own laws, in order to benefit other privileged sections that believe themselves to be above the law."

The NGOs expressed their solidarity with Voluntary Organisations Commissioner Professor Kenneth Wain, who as Commissioner had to make sure that everyone upheld the law, and now, in the course of his duties, found his efforts thwarted by the same government that appointed him.