In the Press: More on LNG controversy, PM makes health sector a priority for 2014

The Times of Malta
Ministry officials to meet the public in Labour clubs
In an initiative proposed by Home Affairs minister Manuel Mallia, officials from the ministry’s customer care unit will be meeting with the public in Labour party clubs in the days preceding meetings with Mallia himself. The venues for the meetings with Mallia, titled ‘Viċin Tiegħek Dejjem’, have not yet been released but Labour clubs within the minister’s constituencies will be used for the meetings with officials from the ministry.

The paper also reported on the plight of victims of harassment, who face months of legal proceedings and what they feel is a lenient criminal code. These comments come after a the results of an EU-wide study show that one in three Maltese women face repeated harassment.

In-Nazzjon
PM still ignoring residents’ concerns about LNG storage – PN
The PM continues to ignore the concerns of residents in the south of Malta as well as issues raised by independent experts in the LNG tanker case, said the PN. The party also brought up the migrant pushback that Muscat threatened last year and the lack of transparency in the citizenship scheme as examples of what it calls Muscat’s stubbornness.

L-Orizzont
Health will be the priority for 2014 – PM
Joseph Muscat said yesterday that the health sector would take priority this year. Speaking at the ex-Malta Ship Building, Muscat said that it is thanks to the dedicate work of healthcare staff that current problems are not greater. He went on to say that once health centres are up to scratch, they can ease the patient load at Mater Dei.

Community service for parents who do not pay child maintenance
Speaking on television program ‘Reporter’ yesterday, President designate Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said that parents who do not pay child maintenance should not be jailed. Instead, she said, they should be sentenced to community service and any earnings they should make from that would go to the child.

The Malta Independent
This paper reports on a survey it conducted last week where people were asked what government decisions they disagreed with. Despite a near-constant political debate on the safety of the LNG gas terminal and residents’ resistance to the plan, only 3% of respondents named the issue as the decision they most disagree with. The selling of citizenship ranked far higher, with 25.3% of respondents disagreeing with the scheme. 2.7% disagreed with the presidential appointment.

On the topic of LNG storage, The Independent also reports that PM Joseph Muscat said, during a press conference yesterday, that mooring a floating storage unit within Marsaxlokk bay was in fact safer than anchoring it out to sea. Muscat said that the government had received ‘internal advice’ suggesting that an offshore storage facility could be compromised by a number of factors, including ocean currents and maritime traffic. Muscat did not reveal who this advice came from.