This is simply not on, dear Robert

When on Friday I realised that Robert Abela wanted to pass a reformed planning law a blazing red siren went off. He tried to do it at the height of summer, when he and most people are out at sea, or under an air conditioner.

The new proposed law will give discretionary powers to the politically-appointed members on the Planning Authority, limit the powers of the courts to overturn planning permissions, stifle appeals from green groups by clipping their wings, open up unrestricted interpretation of planning policy, allow a free for all in height limitation, and reduce the spirit of the local plans by overriding them with new policies.

According to a source of mine, Abela wants the planning law not to be discussed at committee stage in parliament but directly in plenary to get it over and done with. He then wants to go for a bonanza budget in October and call an early election in March.

Now, that Abela wants a comfortable electoral victory I can understand. But what I cannot understand is why he has genuflected to the building lobby and people like Sandro Chetcuti, who play both sides. Abela has simply awarded them a green card for making this country more of a dump.

On Thursday, Abela presented his case to Labour’s parliamentary group. He told them that the PN would not react. On the contrary, Adrian Delia and Alex Borg reacted with clarity, suggesting they will not be lame ducks as Opposition leaders.

In 2006, Nationalist minister George Pullicino introduced local plans that led to nationwide protests. In 2008, the PN won the election with a wafer-thin majority. In 2006, a poster in one of the protests, attended by several Labour protagonists including Joseph Muscat, read: ‘Vote George, Get Lorry’.

Robert Abela should not be too surprised if he experiences the same treatment.

In 1985, when Robert Abela was eight years old, I took to the streets with other Labour activists to protest against Labour Works Minister Lorry Sant and the government’s planning policies. We were beaten and arrested by police. After this we worked to get the Labour Party and other parties to embrace environmentalism. Fast forward and the PL today still has an appalling environmental record. On other fronts it has fared much better.

But the worst thing is that Abela has no shame in exposing his low esteem for environmental policies.

What is being proposed in this new law is simply wrong and goes against EU law. Instead of stricter policies to give this country a break, Abela has opened the gates of hell and gave the Planning Authority discretionary powers that will undermine the state of the environment and hundreds of communities. The planning changes will give more power to the big and small developer.

What is even more strange is that Abela’s actions today came in the wake of a public consultation process started in late 2023 which was initiated because the government wanted to respond to a public cry that works should be suspended until an appeal is decided.

Instead of appealing to this sentiment, Abela has reacted in the complete opposite way, making it more difficult to stop a planning permit. Abela has no shame in siding with the bullies that have raped our country.

As a sop, the fines for illegalities have been incremented. This is meaningless after the Charles Polidano saga at Montekristo Estate, which saw iċ-Ċaqnu pay a miserly fine for his plethora of illegalities over more than two decades.

Abela has been acting defiantly. Is he testing public opinion? Or has he not realised that he is playing a dangerous form of poker?

In the last weeks, he reinstated Kurt Buhagiar, the man accused of the involuntary homicide of Jean Paul Sofia, back to the Lands Department. His excuse was so bad, that I am embarrassed to repeat it. But Buhagiar, a convicted human trafficker, who spent a year in Ragusa jail, seems to be lucky man for the time being.

But needless to say, the belief that until someone is found to be criminally responsible there should be no problem with the person holding public office is anathema to the culture of impunity that should govern modern western democracies.

This dogma is also espoused by Alex Agius Saliba, the deputy leader and MEP, who argues that as long as someone is not guilty of a criminal offence there is no problem with them being part of the party. This explains why mavericks like Neville Gafà have a place in today’s Labour. The next recruit, I would imagine, is Keith Schembri. He faces several charges but he is still innocent until proven guilty and would fit the PL’s bill.

The concept that political office or responsibility is linked to ethical standards seems to elude all those orbiting in Abela’s shadow. As is the notion that government ministers and chief executives can serve their office and at the same time do private work.

But what Abela has also not realised is that until now he has been a very lucky man. When he replaced Joseph Muscat, he was faced with the COVID pandemic. It was an immense challenge but it also gave him an unique opportunity. The Opposition could not rally or act in public. Protests could not be held by anyone—this took the wind out of the sails of groups like Repubblika.

When COVID faded, the Ukraine war started and all excuses for inflation could be blamed on that. In the aftermath of COVID, tourism boomed and Malta like many other countries served as an attraction. We can put quality tourism aside for the time being but as the country sailed on, the PN continued to be run like the boy scouts with little or no direction.

Abela even survived the Vitals Inquiry and the disastrous handling of the Jean Paul Sofia incident. In the meantime, he reached out to all those diehards he had pushed away with good reason. Even Joseph Muscat, despite facing serious criminal charges, was welcomed back.

All this has not stopped people from stating in different polls that they will not vote in the general election.

The proposed planning changes will enrage a lot of people. It will lead many people to question the true intentions of Robert Abela. These planning laws are not about the people but about big business; the greedy bunch who would rather see Malta and Gozo sliced up to their whims.

I am 62, and I have always lived in the hope that this country will change and be a fine place to live in. To the people who run this country, it seems their aim is to attain an electoral victory with the backing of big business.

But I am still hopeful there are many Maltese and Gozitans who are not married into greed and can see through all this, including many like me who are not Nationalist and would have hoped for better but have had enough.