Updated | Pre-budget document shows only 4,246 new jobs created – Muscat

Quoting from the government's recent pre-budget document during an interview broadcast on One Radio, Joseph Muscat highlighted how government's contentious job creation figures were not adding up.

Muscat said that while the Nationalist government has regularly and vociferously claimed to have created 20,000 new jobs in the last five years, its own pre-budget document reported an increase of only 4,246 new jobs created.

"These are [Finance Minister] Tonio Fenech's job creation figures. They do not add up," Muscat said, ironically expressing the hope that "someone tells us the truth soon."

He also slammed the pre-budget document estimates for the manner in which government has repeatedly revised its financial estimates to make allowances for a deficit projection which has worsened over the first six months of 2012.

Addressing claims by Fenech that the upcoming budget would not be an "election budget", Muscat said that such claims constituted "lawyer-speak", insisting that the budget document itself should not feature electoral 'ploys. "But that does not mean there won't be any," Muscat said, adding that these might be announced outside the pre-budget framework.

Muscat said that neither Gonzi nor Fenech "have any credibility in the financial and economic management of the country", and said that any financial controller who told his company that his financial estimates were not only incorrect, but that it would be suffering an even bigger deficit at the end of the year, "would be shown the door."

Muscat also said that while Labour welcomed the one-off payment being given to the members of the police, he was sure policemen would not be deceived by what he described as "electoral tricks".

He referred to similar attempts to score political points with workers in various sectors, such as those working with the Dockyards, GO p.l.c., Air Malta, and the bus service, among others

Labour, Muscat insisted, would not be drawn into a a game of who can make the most electoral promises, and insisted that if the PN government truly had the interest of the police force at heart, it would have improved its working conditions in a permanent way and made actual sustainable provision for it in the budget, and not a one-time 'payment' on the eve of an election.

Muscat also emphasised the need for government to keep government-induced costs as low as possible, insisting that while some prices were outside its control (such as the price of oil), utility prices were not.

He also took the opportunity to reiterate that recent increases in utility prices were found to not have been prompted by fluctuations in the international oil market, but "rose because of the government's irresponsibility and ineffective management."

Muscat also emphasised the need for economic growth that reaches across all levels of society, and is not limited to a handful of interests at the top. "Today under Gonzi, the national cake has shrunk, become a pastry, and is being enjoyed by only a few people, while everyone else is left with nothing," he said.

Muscat also criticised the PN's track record on health care, and said the PN administration had somehow contrived to "kill primary healthcare" by driving people away from health centres and policlinics, which was traditionally their first stop for health care.

He said that the Labour Party would prioritise equipping the primary health centres so that people feel confident in going there.

He also insisted that any lasting solution to the problems plaguing he health care system, such as long waiting lists and staffing issues, require a drastic reform in the primary health care system because "Mater Dei is smaller than St. Lukes.'

He said that if the PN government thinks it can resolve the waiting lists and other issues without reforming the system completely, "it is misleading people."

"There was a time when the PN government was an energetic one that contributed to the national advancement, But like there were Labour Governments before it that also became fatigued, this PN government has become tired, lost its energy, and is becoming mired in its own mistakes," Muscat said.

Speaking about the Labour Party's upcoming Congress, Muscat said it will be open not only Labour Party members, but also people who feel drawn to the party's policies and values, and urged all to attend.

He said that several discussions will take place, and will inform the guidelines upon which the electoral manifesto would be based, before it is issued "at the propitious moment."

He said that the Labour Party is not interested in holding discussions behind closed doors, but seeks to open up the discussion not only to the party members, but anyone who has something to contribute.

He said that it would be something that other parties will follow in Labour's footsteps in the future.

In a statement, The PN reacted by defending its 20,000 new jobs claim, insisting that Muscat "showed himself as an amateur who does not know the difference between an increase in employment, and in jobs created."

The PN insisted that while Muscat was expecting the population to "trust him with your jobs, his words shows that he cannot grasp basic economic concepts. Every student studying O Level Economics knows how 20,000 new jobs were created," the PN insisted.

The PN insisted that Muscat "would bring unemployment" and reiterated its "Labour Won't Work" slogan, adding that individuals such as Karmenu Vella, Alex Sciberras Trigona, Joe Debono Grech, and Leo Brincat had a maligned track record and formed part of failed administrations in the past.