The government's attempts to reform magisterial inquiries are an admission by Robert Abela that he is leading a corrupt government, Bernard Grech said on Sunday.
Speaking during an interview on NET, the Opposition leader said that the motion tabled in parliament seeking to amend the law regulating magisterial inquiries - on which no details have yet been made public - is Abela's attempt at moving the goalposts because his back is against the wall.
Abela first ordered a review of the law regulating magisterial inquiry in response to lawyer and former PN MP Jason Azzopardi asking for an urgent investigation about an alleged criminal racket involving Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri and his wife.
The prime minister has since also signalled that he intends to protect civil servants from prosecution in the reform.
"Just like when children are playing a match and realise they are about to lose, so they try to make the goalposts smaller, Abela, in an attempt to save his own skin, wants to shrink the goalposts," Grech said.
"This is Abela’s greatest admission that he is leading a dirty government. Because if one has nothing to worry about, there is no need to move the goalposts."
Grech also pointed out the haste with which the government had presented this motion in parliament when it concerned people close to it but left crucial laws gathering dust for years.
"After years of Abela and his associates trying to convince people that the scandals being revealed were merely rumours, now that his associates are being brought to court one by one, he is doing everything he can to save himself and those close to him," he said.
Too many sectors in crisis
Speaking about the ongoing dispute between the government and lecturers at MCAST, Grech said that Labour was falling into the vicious cycle of its past administrations and maligning education by allowing this dispute to drag on for three years.
Labour is essentially throwing education out of the window, he said, as not only is this situation preventing educators from being able to do their jobs properly, but it has led to some students being forced to repeat a year.
He said this situation was a symptom of a government that had abandoned effective leadership and poor planning, leading to crisis after crisis developing in various sectors.
The uncontrolled influx of foreign workers has led to basic infrastructure collapsing from a lack of investment. It also led to people being deeply frustrated when so many services - roads, electricity, water, sewage and health care - were buckling under the strain of poor governance, Grech said.
"The public is having to pay for Abela’s irresponsibility because he kept ignoring what the PN has long been telling him," he said.
"Since this Labour Government not only failed to plan for these increases but spent years focusing solely on lining its own pockets and those of the foreign profiteers who stole €400 million from us, now healthcare workers are trying to hold together a hospital that risks collapsing at any moment."
This clearly showed that the country did not need a few small fixes here and there, but a complete change, he added.