Ralph Cassar
I am not surprised by the latest planning proposals by Robert Abela and Labour. It is the continuation of the politics of greed. It’s the neoliberal idea of limitless resources and endless growth. Nature is the arbitrarily exploitable ‘other’, which inevitably leads to the exploitation of people, while the few reap the financial benefits.
The new planning proposals are a development on the Nationalists’ 2006 ‘rationalisation’ and the subsequent savage development pushed by Labour and Joseph Muscat.
Speculative growth at the expense of the many, in the interests of the few.
The sustained attempts at manipulating public opinion are testament to Labour’s subservience to speculators and developers.
The Planning Authority’s CEO, Johann Buttigieg, is doing the rounds on social media, invited by Labour rabble rousers. The usual suspects dish out the usual age-old mantra for diehards to repeat. It goes something like this: those who are opposing these great reforms ‘for the people’ are against Labour and are acting on behalf of the PN.
I did not realise that the Labour president hopped over to the PN. Maybe I missed something. Anyway, he’s just another one of those Labour officials who, despite Labour’s terrible record and appeasement of the corrupt, the fraudsters and the politically delinquent repeatedly, when push comes to shove, still prop up such a morally corrupt party.
Nobody in their right mind needs reminding either that it was the other way round during the campaign against rationalisation in 2006.
Everyone opposing was, according to the PN pundits, a Labour supporter, of course. It’s the pathetic state of politics in this country.
It is patently obvious that all the prime minister is interested in is boosting speculation. It is clear from these planning proposals, as well as from the Vision 2050 document. It is also crystal clear that Labour is dead set against participative democracy and favours centralisation and authoritarian political control. This reminds me of ‘the minister is god and master’ Lorry Sant attitude.
One proposal which immediately stands out as dangerous and authoritarian is the possibility of new policies increasing building heights, decided on a ministerial whim. Another is that environmental and social considerations will no longer be grounds for refusing permits. Absolutely disgusting. The proposals also permit the widening of the regularisation of ODZ illegalities.
How do Labour pundits manage to keep a straight face while trying to justify these things? All this continues to confirm the barefaced Labour lies during election campaigns.
The cherry on the cake is clipping the wings of the highest judicial institution, the Court of Appeal, on planning issues. State capture by one branch of government, which in Malta, given our underdeveloped democracy, means state capture by the party in government.
The proposals are the direct opposite of what is needed. Real reform would mean actual holistic planning rather than simply a ‘permitting authority’ and the proposed policies made to measure for the financial gain of the few and the continued destruction of our country. Urban planning means ensuring the availability of the right types of properties to ensure that everyone who wants a home can afford one.
It means restricting the waste of the precious resource of land by refusing permits for what are clearly properties for speculative activities.
Reform would involve reversing the 2006 ‘rationalisation’ scheme. It would involve a clear commitment to stop increasing land take-up. The hoarding of ‘value’ in dormant assets would be actively discouraged, disincentivised and taxed. The income from these taxes can be redirected towards socially and ecologically useful investments.
Labour poses as the party of the weak and vulnerable. Lie. It is the party for the financial gain of the few, for the speculation brigade.
It poses as a bastion of patriotism. Another barefaced lie. It favours the exploitation of land and people for the sake of the economic gain of the powerful. It poses as visionary.
In fact, it is intent on building in the sea through large scale land reclamation, increasing another million tourists, exploiting people to keep wages down and continuing to turn our towns and villages into shanty towns.
At the end of the day the only way forward is smashing the system. We are a de facto one-party state, with laws manipulated and designed to favour such a system.
If you perpetuate this system, then you only have yourself to blame. What we need is Green over greed.
Dr Ralph Cassar is the Greens’ Secretary General and Green local councillor in Ħ’Attard
First published in https://timesofmalta.com/article/shamelessly-service.1114356 11 Aug 2025
