Labour always prioritised those in need

Owen Bonnici (Minister for National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government.)

Labour has always worn its social conscience on its sleeve. Budget 2025 is a clear demonstration of that. But it goes back a long way.

During the holiday period, a friend of mine sent me links to mass meeting speeches by former Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Dom Mintoff.

Not only are they a textbook case of remarkable political oratory, but they show how the Labour Party has always prioritised the working class.

I had watched most of those speeches, of course. I've been active within the Labour Party since my early days, and as a teenager, I witnessed Mintoff's speeches first hand. But watching them again was a stark reminder on how the Labour Party has always prioritised those in need.

There is a particular speech by Mintoff in Zejtun, my hometown. Somewhere in that huge crowd that Mintoff used to draw each time Labour called its faithful, there were my parents and grandparents.  

Clad in his usual leather jacket and oversized belt attire, Mintoff explains how the Labour Party had to face the wrath of the establishment in its quest to lift people from poverty. And yet, it overcomes those challenges successfully. Mintoff was always larger than life. From his first steps in politics up till his very end, he was controversial, an impressively fine negotiator, stubborn, fiery, staunch in his social democratic values, and a fierce fighter for the working class.

His political speeches were mesmerising.  He held the crowd, who followed attentively his often-long speeches peppered with practical examples to ensure that everyone understood his message. In one of his speeches, he promises his audience that even when he dies, his soul will continue working for Malta. He meant it - pensions for all; the minimum wage; social housing; free healthcare; free education for all and more.

On one occasion, there were many other such instances, at a mass meeting in front of the Labour Party club in Luqa, which happens to face the local parish church, the church bells ring continuously during his speech in an attempt to drown his voice and disrupt the Labour Party gathering. But he defied as he had defied the local establishment and the British monarchy.

I believe that Malta's middle class was first built - as we know it - by Dom  Mintoff.

Jerome and Graham's press statement

That is why it is astonishing to read a Nationalist Party press statement on the eve of New Year's Eve attempting to rubbish Malta's financial and economic situation. (I recall a time, not so long ago, when political parties took a short break from partisan politics during the holiday season, not so anymore - the PN I meant which spends most of its working, but also holidays, writing and publishing press statements).

It was signed by my parliamentary colleagues Jerome Caruana Cilia and Graham Bencini. With utmost respect to the two gentlemen, it's rich coming from them.

The former could barely put together a coherent pre-budget document when he was the PN spokesperson for finance. The latter made a fresh attempt pre-2025 budget and failed miserably).

Malta has the fastest growing economy in the Eurozone. We have the highest employment rate in decades. Inflation is one of the lowest within the EU. This government has its shortcomings, of course, but criticising Malta's robust economic performance is - well, beyond me.

Perhaps Messiers Caruana Cilia and Bencini (the one who recently told us that the biggest tax cut in history, announced in budget 2025, was ineffective) didn't want to be outdone by their PN colleagues who over the holiday period issued countless partisan press releases, most of them meaningless.

Whatever the case, Jerome's and Graham's press release fell flat on its face.

Karin

She was a child in her prime. Her father, a respected medical doctor, was giving his services to the people of Malta at a time when the Malta union of doctors had called a strike over disagreements with the then Labour government.

Edwin Grech, God rest his gentle soul, had defied strike orders, opting instead to put patients first. He paid dearly for it. A cruel, to date, unidentified soul-less, barbaric, and inhumane criminal sent a parcel bomb to Prof Grech's household.

It was a few days before Christmas, 47 years ago, when a parcel was sent to the Grech household. His daughter, thinking it was a gift, enthusiastically opened the parcel. The bomb went off. Karin was brutally murdered. Edwin died recently, and justice has not been done.

The people or person behind his daughter's murder never faced justice. There was a time when many thought that the culprit/s had been identified - then in opposition PN leader Dr Eddie Fenech Adami, had promised that he knew who killed Karin, and Raymond (Caruana) a young man murdered whilst socialising with friends at a PN club in Gudja, and when in government he would bring them to justice. It was a promise that was never kept.

Last week, I, together with my Labour Party colleagues, paid our respects to Karin Grech. I have done so for years now. I hope that justice shall one day be done.

That horrific murder and that of Raymond Caruana deserves closure - for their loved ones and for Malta.

 Looking ahead

"It's impressive the sheer amount of work done in the cultural sector this past year," a friend of mine texted me last Monday when my office uploaded my 2025 social media message.

I basically gave an overview of the year past, whilst Claire Agius' authentic voice explained gains made in arts, culture, national patrimony, and local governance.

My friend, who hails from the cultural sector and whose criticism - often pointed and sharp I truly value, told me that together, with the people in these sectors, my Ministry, and my government, managed to achieve an extraordinary lot in 2024. And he's right.

I'm truly proud of what we have managed to achieve together.

That is why I am certain that 2025 shall be even better.