PM wants new OHSA fines in place before Summer recess
Parliament will not break up for its summer recess until a bill proposing new, tougher workplace health and safety measures is passed into law, the Prime Minister said. MPs are due to debate the bill on Monday and “we will not adjourn for recess until this bill is approved by the house and becomes law,” Abela said. Speaking on the Labour Party’s radio station, the Prime Minister said penalties for those who do not comply with OHSA regulations are currently too low. “Unfortunately, the reality is that people are willing to risk getting caught because the consequence is a penalty of a few hundred euros,” Abela said. (Times of Malta)
Government is recklessly squandering public funds – PN
PN leader Bernard Grech has taken government to task on its reckless expenditure of public funds and abysmal leadership of the country. During an interview on Sunday, Grech highlighted the revelation that €6 million in taxpayer funds were used by Steward Healthcare to hire a private intelligence firm to accuse him of accepting a bribe. Another example of squandering of taxpayer funds mentioned by Grech was a short film featuring film commissioner Johann Grech cost more than €500,000. The PN leader accused government of gross mismanagement of the country, so that “people who helped Labour in their campaign” can “satisfy their egotrip”, in a reference to the film commissioner. Grech added that government should have fired Johann Grech from his position long ago. (Maltatoday)
Residents call for review of planning policies
A number of resident associations joined forces to call on the government for a review of existing plans and policies that takes into account the present realities faced by residents today. During a press conference in Zurrieq – the first of its kind organised by resident groups – called for an immediate moratorium on all rationalisation areas and a freeze to pending applications, until new updated studies are carried out. “We can no longer depend on plans written in 2006 which effectively allowed swathes of countryside, sometimes also including public land, to be taken up for construction almost twenty years later. The rationalisation exercise has had disastrous effects on our localities, resulting in the destruction of buffer zones between towns, the loss of agricultural land and green spaces. This has only served land speculators,” the groups said in a statement. (The Malta Independent)
