After referendum, civil society urged to join environmental NGOs

SHout campaigners urge the people who voted against spring hunting to join environmental NGOs and send politicians a powerful message.

People who voted against spring hunting in the referendum should join BirdLife and help them report hunting illegalities, TV presenter Moira Delia said.

She was speaking in a debate on Xarabank to discuss last week’s wafer-thin referendum victory for the retention of spring hunting.

MediaToday managing editor Saviour Balzan also had words of praise for the 49.6% of voters who voted No, despite Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition leader Simon Busuttil having declared their intentions to vote Yes.

“Our environment is under attack, and not only by hunting,” Balzan said. “49.6% of the voters voted No, despite having had no personal reason to do so. I ask these people not to lose heart and to join environmental NGOs.

“We can become a force that politicians will have to either reckon with, or ignore at their own peril. I urge politicians to listen to this clear message that the people have sent through the referendum - the environment, animals and birds should be prioritised.”

“Democracy requires the rule of the majority, and we accept the defeat,” Balzan said. “However, it doesn’t force the minority to change their values when they lose. We have lost the battle, but we haven’t lost the war. We will maintain our environmental values and keep on believing that migratory birds should not be shot at in spring.”

He accused the political leaders, in particular the Prime minister, of contributing heavily to the Yes campaign’s eventual victory.

“If Joseph Muscat and Simon Busuttil had really wanted to leave the final decision in the people’s hands, they wouldn’t have declared their voting intentions,” he said. “Moreover, Muscat unnecessarily repeated that he will vote Yes a number of times, as did Labour MPs. If they hadn’t opened their mouths, I’d be speaking with a wider smile than I am today.”

BirdLife treasurer Mark Sultana accused the Yes campaign of sending SMSes with the words “Vote yes, as Joseph Muscat will”, and pointed out that referendum ballot sheets with an X in the Yes box had been pinned to noticeboards of PL band clubs.

“It’s no secret that some people don’t have minds of their own and just follow their political leader,” he said. “Although Muscat had a right to say that he will vote Yes, he repeated his declaration several times, including twice in Gozo.”
On a positive side, he noted that, after the referendum, Muscat himself warned the hunters that they’re on the last chance and that this hunting season won’t be back to business as usual.

“Two hunters have already challenged Muscat,” he said, referring to two hunters who have been accused of shooting protected birds since the hunting season opened on Tuesday.

‘No political influence over referendum’ - FKNK

However, FKNK President Joe Perici Calascione denied that the referendum was in any way influenced by politics.

Yes campaigner Sylvana Zarb Darmanain similarly dismissed Muscat and Busuttil’s influence over the public vote, and argued that Alternattiva Demokratika, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, and a group of Jesuit priests had declared their intentions to vote No.

FKNK lawyer Kathleen Grima said that the party leaders, as representatives of the people, were obliged to declare their voting intentions.

She pointed out that the local council turnout was lower than the referendum, while failing to mention that turnout was some 10% higher than it was in 2012- the last time this round of local council elections was held.

‘They won, but now want to move the goalposts’

Grima defended her earlier call to Parliament to discuss a change to Malta’s abrogative referenda laws so as to “safeguard minorities”.

“You see online petitions on everything flying around, so are we going to start holding referendums on everything?” she questioned. “Democracy should be practiced responsibly, with the majority showing respect to minorities.”

She also suggested introducing a time-limit in which people wishing to hold an abrogative referendum would have to gather the 40,000 quota necessary for the potential referendum to appear in front of the Constitutional Court.

Responding to presenter Peppi Azzopardi’s claims that the referendum ahs proven that hunters are no longer a minorities, but Grima retorted that they are, and that the Yes vote showed that the people showed respect towards the hunter “minority”. 

However, Balzan accused Grima of trying to “move the goalpsots” and insisted that referendums are a democratic tool that shouldn’t be tampered with.

 ‘Hunting has become too risky’ – guilty cuckoo hunter

A hunter who was found guilty in court over the shooting of a protected bird earlier this week warned that hunting has become too risky a hobby.

“It’s not worth it, to risk ending up in all this trouble,” Stefan Micallef said. “Hopefully my case will serve as a message to other hunters that it’s better to lose a turtle dove than to end up like I have.”

Stefan Micallef pleaded guilty in court to shooting down a cuckoo in Manikata on Wednesday morning. However, he told police that he shot it by mistake, thinking it was a turtle dove. He was fined the maximum €2,500, had his shotgun confiscated, and his hunting license suspended for three and a half years. He was also suspended from hunting federation FKNK with immediate effect.  Micallef, who was fined €2,500, had his shotgun confiscated, and his hunting license suspended for three and a half years.

He said that he had heard another shot go off before he himself fired at the cuckoo.

“The circumstances were all against me. I had parked near BirdLife’s vehicles, so I had known they were present and obviously wouldn’t shoot intentionally at a cuckoo in their presence.

“When in court, I was worried what would happen to me if the hunting season were to be closed because of me.”

Balzan responded that no hunting should take place before sunrise, that the shot Micallef heard indicated that another hunter had tried to gun down the cuckoo, and that his fear at court indicated that he was scared of the potential wrath of other hunters.