When the Labour government was elected in 2013, people wanted a fresh start and a forward-looking leadership. It was not just about the economy. Looking back, in fact, I see that Maltese society has changed. This administration broke social barriers we never thought could be challenged. We did it through dialogue and persuasion. When reforming meant ensuring rights, including to minorities, there was no time to wait and waste.

Although divorce was introduced in 2011, we believe that the current legislation must be improved. We were active in favour of divorce when the Maltese electorate was called to participate in a referendum. For us it was a matter of rights that transcended policy and little did we hold back to bring the change so direly needed by families locked in hardship and emotional discomfort, notwithstanding the fact we were not yet in government.

The social disaster that was meant to happen, according to conservative forces who had strongly opposed that initial step, did not materialise. Now we are prepared to continue to sensitively improve on that legislation. Aware of the suffering that comes with marriage break-ups and family splits, we want to reduce the time required for the attainment of divorce. It is clear that every passing month is time wasted for the individuals in difficulty to relaunch their lives and their happiness.

We truly believe in gender equality and the benefits for society in having a more equal representation. In the early 2000s, the Labour Party introduced measures to ensure gender balance in its internal structures. Measures brought such a strong immediate culture change and so many females are now elected organically that such measures are barely necessary.

It is this same process that we intend to trigger on a national basis through the measures inducing more equal representation in parliament. A corrective mechanism with a number of other family-friendly measures will tear down the remaining barriers for capable females to make it. I am very positive that such a balance will result in a better ultimate product, that is a more open dialogue and legislation reflecting better the needs of the different elements in our society.

Change takes courage. It was not a simple task to break the taboo on drugs and start discussing a new, more sensitive approach to address them. The depenalisation of cannabis possession and the regulation of cannabis for medicinal purposes paved the way for a much healthier debate surrounding the use of cannabis. Notwithstanding the changes that were made, it was not uncommon to hear of individuals, youths especially, who were caught in very small possession and went through the horrid experience of police arrest and criminal proceedings.

Change takes courage- Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi

The government shall be launching a White Paper to provide the basis for a discussion on further changes to legislation regulating the use and possession of cannabis. This White Paper is intended to challenge the status quo as well as provide for a way forward to this highly-sensitive subject. There are various effective ways to deal with persons resorting to use and abuse of substances. Rather than punish users we should ensure assistance and support.

The reforms we are proposing are a result of our continuous quest for social justice. It took a brave step from the government to start addressing the constitutional issues raised by the rent laws preceding 1995. While the permanency of the tenancies and the inheritance of the protection afforded by law represented an injustice to the owners, there is a strong social factor to the reform as close to 10,000 families, many of them of pensionable age, have been protected by these laws for decades.

The situation was legislatively untenable as a multitude of court sentences repeatedly decided that the owner’s fundamental right to the enjoyment of property is violated by the disproportional intervention of the state, resulting in miserable rental returns that do not reflect the value of the property.

The reform proposed will, on the one hand, ensure that owners get a fair rental return from their properties but will also ensure that tenants will be protected. Through such reform the government will alleviate the burden of social responsibility on the owners and extend a strong housing benefit that will absorb the increase in rents that eventually will be established by the Rent Regulation Board.

Reforms differ in content but the substance remains intact: attaining justice, ensuring freedom while protecting the vulnerable. It is this drive to change which defines us and we are adamant to sustain such a progressive wave that we triggered over the past years.

Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi is Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds.