Opposition backs bill on the Malta Mediation Centre

The opposition's spokesman for justice, Anglu Farrugia, told parliament yesterday that the opposition agreed in principle on the setting up of a Malta Mediation Centre.

He felt that mediation should always be voluntary and the parties involved in a dispute should be free to choose their mediator.

The remarks were made when the House of Representatives continued its debate on a bill for the setting up of the mediation centre.

Dr Farrugia also urged the government to heed the remarks made by Chief Justice Vincent DeGaetano at the opening of the forensic year, when he complained that provisions of two legal notices issued earlier this year could give rise to constitutional issues and may impinge on the independence of the judiciary.

The legal notices, Dr Farrugia said, gave the director-general of the law courts certain powers which actually belonged to judges.

Discussing the bill, Dr Farrugia observed that many lawyers already acted as mediators among parties in a dispute and it was not fair to give the impression that lawyers could not be mediators.

In the Family Court some mediators had a negative attitude, telling the parties that lawyers were not necessary during mediation.

Indeed, the way the Family Court functioned needed to be improved. The mediators, in particular, needed to be more professional.

Dr Farrugia insisted that recourse to mediation should be voluntary. The parties to a dispute should also be free to choose their mediators

He felt that in civil cases, the mediators should be lawyers in view of the nature of the cases.

He also urged the government to ensure that the board of the mediation centre, which would be appointed by the Justice Minister, would not have a political tint.

The Labour MP observed that the mediation centre would share offices with the Malta Arbitration Centre. Was it true that that latter was in such financial straits that it had an overdraft?

If this was so, it was not giving the desired results. The intention had been for the arbitration centre to be self-sufficient.

Did the government intend to privatise the arbitration centre in future? He hoped this would not be the case because justice could not be bought from the private sector.

On a point of information, Parliamentary Secretary Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said that there were no plans for the privatisation of the arbitration centre, and it had had the overdraft for years.

Dr Farrugia said that to house the mediation centre at the arbitration centre would create logistical problems when hearings clashed.

In other comments on the administration of justice, Dr Farrugia complained that lawyers who chaired the Small Claims Tribunal had not been paid since June.

Under this government, court tariffs had gone up so much that some people were opting not to go to court.