The PN is calling on the government to set up a Poverty Watch Unit to support more than 82,000 people who are at risk of poverty in Malta.
This unit would also help some 300 homeless people who are excluded from the latest figures supplied by a European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey, PN MP Ivan Bartolo said on Wednesday.
These "poorest of the poor" do not have a landline or a mobile phone to answer such surveys and are therefore not even acknowledged by such data, he said.
Answering media questions, Bartolo said that charities and NGOs such as Caritas and the Anti-Poverty Forum were already in touch with homeless people and the government should step up its efforts to support them.
Poverty, he told a conference reacting to the government’s budget measures, was complex and people facing it did not want pity but rather tools to get back on their feet and live with dignity.
Spokesperson Errol Cutajar added that while it was good that people were being financially supported during the pandemic, the government could not address the issue by "throwing money at the problem".
The COVID-19 vouchers and increases in Cost of Living Allowance or children’s allowance were all short-term measures that did not look beyond the pandemic, he said.
Addressing the same conference, Therese Comodini Cachia said the PN pledged its support to quality journalism that could not be bought.
She was referring to news that Times of Malta journalist Ivan Martin was handed a number of €500 notes by lawyer Gianluca Caruana Curran, a member of Yorgen Fenech’s legal team, following a 20-minute meeting on Monday.
Martin rejected the money and immediately reported the incident to his direct editor. The police are investigating the cash offer.
Comodini Cachia urged the government to protect journalism and said she will be asking for a meeting with José Herrera, Minister for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government, to ensure the implementation of measures protecting free journalism.
She also called for investment in the cultural and creative sectors, so that the current pandemic will not spell the end of local talent, while the public would be able to continue enjoying cultural projects during COVID-19 times.
Another PN MP, Karl Gouder, said that urgent action was needed to ensure a career for artists. The worst thing that could happen, he said, was for artists to give up and turn to other sectors to support their livelihood.
Among others, he said, the government should set up a fund through which local councils, in collaboration with NGOs or the private sector, could launch projects that benefit the national cultural heritage.