Ombudsman up for discussion as Parliament reconvenes

Empowering the Ombudsman
Bill No 48 - Ombudsman (Amendment) Bill - (2nd Reading)

Objective: to streamline the procedure adopted by specialised Commissioners for Administrative Investigations in the handling of complaints and in the determination procedure.

The bill also proposes to enable the Ombudsman to provide investigative and administrative services to such specialised commissioners.

Moreover, the bill is also proposing to designate these specialised Commissioners as Officers of Parliament, like the Ombudsman at present.

The most controversial aspect of this bill is the transfer of the MEPA Audit Office led by Joe Falzon under the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s remit and using his own resources.

The bill proposes that the Commissioners for Administrative Investigations are appointed by the Ombudsman himself “for specialised areas as determined by him with the concurrence of the Prime Minister”.

The Ombudsman shall appoint as Commissioner “such person as the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition shall jointly communicate to him in writing as the person to be appointed to the post”.

In default of receipt of such communication within three weeks from the date when the Ombudsman informs them or from the date when a vacancy arises in any such office, “the appointment of Commissioner shall be made by the Ombudsman acting in accordance with his own deliberate judgment”:

Adoption anomaly
Bill No 44 - Civil Code (Amendment No 2) Bill - (2nd Reading)

Objective: to end discrimination between married couples and single persons in adoption, by bringing into force the provision of the judgment delivered by the Constitutional Court on 3 April 2009 in the court case instituted by Ruth Debono Sultana and Silvio Debono against the Department for Social Welfare Standards and Minister for Social Policy.

The constitutional court had struck off as unconstitutional a proviso in the Civil Code which established that married couples had to be living together for at least three years to qualify for adoption.

The draft bill does not establish a minimum threshold of years for a married couple to live together before qualifying for adoption, but states solely that a couple has to be “married and living together”.

Paternity matters
Bill No 55 - Civil Code (Amendment) Bill - (2nd Reading)

Objective: to update the provisions regarding paternity issues in the Civil Code. For instance, Article 77 of the Civil Code is being amended to enable a married man to contest the paternity of a child born in wedlock “if he proves that, during the time from the three-hundredth day to the one-hundred-and-eightieth day before the birth of the child, the husband was in the physical impossibility of cohabiting with his wife on account of his being away from her or some other accident”, or if he proved that, during the said time “the wife had committed adultery, and furthermore produces evidence of any other fact which may also be genetic and scientific tests and data that tends to exclude the husband as the natural father of the child.".

Protection of children
Bill No 56 - Protection of Children (Hague Convention) Bill - (2nd Reading)

Objective: to provide for the ratification of the Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation in respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children concluded on the 19 October 1996.

The bill specifies, among other things, that the Minister may, by order in the Government Gazette, from time to time “specify the Contracting States, other than Malta, for the purposes of the Convention”.

The bill is also proposing that the functions under the Convention of a central authority shall be assigned to the Director responsible for Welfare.

Other matters
During this parliamentary season, the second reading of the Whistleblower Act (“Protection of the Whistleblower Bill”) and the Sex Offenders’ Registry (Child Protection Registry Bill”) are also expected to be discussed in Parliament in the second reading after the first reading of these bills was approved on 13 July 2010

There is also the private members bill for the introduction of divorce presented by Nationalist MP backbencher Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, with the Nationalist MP insisting that the internal discussion within the PN on the matter should be concluded by next January.