Robert Abela attacks PN bill by raising fear of foreigners stopping festas

Robert Abela talked about the fear of foreigners using the courts to stop festas when justifying his opposition to the Nationalist Party’s constitutional proposal.

The prime minister was speaking on Sunday at the sports pavilion in Victoria when he referred to the government’s decision to oppose a PN bill that sought to introduce the right to a healthy and sustainable environment in the Constitution.

Taking the cue from concerns over the bill’s wording raised by several organisations representing hunters, target shooters, festa enthusiasts and sports people, Abela hit out at what he called the PN’s insensitivity. In a comment that had xenophobic undertones, he then brought up the fictitious example of a foreigner living in Malta, who was bothered by the village festa and would seek constitutional redress to stop it on the grounds it breached his right to a healthy environment.

Abela played the foreigner card again to warn against a potential threat to hunting had the PN proposal gone through.

“The PN’s motion threatened all hobbyists but we were there to stop them; we tell them hands off our hunters, our footballers, our shooting and festa enthusiasts,” Abela said.

The prime minister also characterised a parliamentary question by PN MP Graziella Attard Previ—she asked whether the government was going to investigate Gozitan public sector workers after a National Audit Office report flagged several shortcomings—as an attack on Gozitan workers.

“The PN did so because these people are the workforce that will make our vision happen in Gozo and they want to disrupt our work… Forget it, there will be no investigation on my watch,” Abela said, accusing the PN of a witch hunt. He added: “To make it worse, they put an inquisitor [Karol Aquilina] as spokesperson for the public sector.”

He called on the PN to apologise to Gozitan workers.

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Abela said the project to have a large green open space in Victoria with a car park beneath it will happen. He said the government was publishing the call for offers.

He also reiterated the government’s commitment to take back Manoel Island from the MIDI developers, blaming past PN governments for gifting it to “speculators not investors”.

Once again, the prime minister promised that the next budget will be the best ever.