Azzopardi laments lack of pre-discussion with Opposition over new laws

The government should explain the details of bills with the Opposition before drafting them in Parliament, shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi said.

“The previous administration used to call its Opposition counterparts to discuss Bills before they had undergone their first reading in Parliament,” Azzopardi said in Parliament during the second reading of a Bill to implement the EU’s Succession Regulation. “Before deciding to transfer land to NGOs, we had invited four shadow ministers to a boardroom to discuss it. We weren’t obliged to do so but we had done it so often that it had become second nature.

“Now it has become the exception, not the rule. It does help discussion in Parliament if Opposition MPs have a first-time knowledge of Bills beforehand.”

Labour MP Charles Mangion retorted that, in 25 years in Opposition, he had only been invited to two such meetings – one where the government “tried justifying a raise in electricity bills” and another to discuss the setting up of a special-purpose vehicle to address Enemalta’s debt.

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said that Azzopardi, his Opposition counterpart, hadn’t discussed the Opposition’s Public Domain Bill to safeguard Malta's coastline that passed its first reading today.

“I am ready to improve dialogue, but you should practice what you preach,” he told Azzopardi. “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

He also recounted how he had sent the Opposition an email with the draft legal notice of the Individual Investment Programme.

“The next thing I know, this draft appeared on the Internet,” Bonnici said. “Excuse me if I take your words with a pinch of salt.”