The government has divested the Planning Authority of all decency and has left it toothless to make quality planning decisions, the Nationalist Party said on Tuesday. 

Shadow ministers Stanley Zammit, Rebekah Borg and Julie Zahra said the PA has been transformed into a "Permits Authority" that has reached a level of arrogance in which it feels as if it is above the law. 

Such is the case, they said, that the PA breaks the law, ignores the Ombudsman, humiliates other entities like the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, goes against the advice of its own experts and even defies sentences meted out by the Maltese courts, which have declared certain developments illegal, absurd and that breach the PA's own policies. 

The Labour government has dismantled from the PA the capacity and competence necessary to make quality decisions, they said and remains complacent in the face of bad decisions and actions which go against court judgements. 

"This situation is fertile ground for corruption and for those who are most powerful to continue sowing," they said. 

Robert Abela's government, they continued, is placating with empty promises and a lack of action that confirm that atrocities happening in development, promotes a culture of sanctioning that allows those who abuse the system to enjoy the fruit of their labour through simply paying a fine. 

"The solution to these planning and environmental atrocities is a change in the country's leadership, leadership that talks less and acts more and doesn't resort to changes in half measures that only leads to a bureaucratic system that rewards the powerful and punishes the weak," they said. 

The PN, they continued, will continue to do everything in its power so that people can fight the unjust systems and policies by making the environment a fundamental right for all. 

"We need serious, transparent and consistent decisions that inspire trust and put people's minds at ease," they said.