Muscat ‘expecting the worst’ from the PN campaign

The Labour Party won't allow the Nationalist Party to drag it into the mudslinging campaigning even though its leader is expecting the PN to come out with "even worse" campaigning.

Taking part in this evening's well-attended activity in Hamrun, Labour leader Joseph Muscat and his deputy Louis Grech insisted that they will "hold strong" before the attacks of the PN.

"We have started this campaign positively and we intend to continue doing so until the end," Muscat told Fis-Sustanza presenters Simone Cini and Robert Musumeci.

Like he has been reiterating for the past days, the Labour leader insisted that the PN was being negative because it either had no proposals or it couldn't find what to criticise in the Labour's manifesto.

According to Muscat, the electorate was not interested in the mudslinging but it wanted to continue discussing proposals. He however warned that he was expecting "even worse attacks" by the PN.

"The whole point is how strong we will remain in front of this. But both Louis and I have long agreed and decided that we will not indulge in negative campaigning and we refuse to allow others to drag us into the worst form of politics," he said.

Muscat continued to harp on the message of unity when asked how he will solve "injustices".

"Two wrongs don't make a right and injustices will be not be solved by revenge," Muscat said.

According to the Labour leader, during the past five years, genuine Nationalists have suffered under the PN administration because they "weren't members of the clique".

Muscat took the opportunity to tell his audience that Louis Grech and himself were in politics because they both "believed in doing politics differently... if it weren't the case we would have never contested the election".

Muscat said the election was about what the electorate wanted for its children.

"This movement is made of the people who genuinely believe in a new way of doing politics. We want to bring about change. We are not interested in changing the blue flag into red but we want to see the colours of the Maltese flag flying high.

"We are excited and we now it is an important choice. We understand the responsibility and we are ready for it. We are rearing to go. We are ready to serve."

Muscat said the PN's campaigning was reminding him of William Golding's classical novel Lord of the Flies, in which the tribal politics led to destruction.

Among other issues, the Labour leader fielded questions on animal rights and said the animal commissioner would act as a "lawyer" for animal rights.

Referring to the Mosta cases where cats were found crucified upside down on a cross, Muscat argued that this was not only a case of cruelty but also of "ignorance".

He insisted that the harshening of penalties alone would not work, pledging a Labour government to embark on an educative campaign in favour of animal rights.

Referring to statistics, Muscat said that the rate of unemployment was growing one month after the other for 11 months. The unemployment rate is worse than the start of the legislature. Work is not being created fast enough, while some might not be of quality.

Fielding questions on employment, Louis Grech said a Labour government was committed to have 192,000 people - 75% working population - working in Malta by 2020.

"This is our target: it is doable and realistic," Grech said.

Among other proposals, Grech said that an important pledge made by the PL was the public broadcasting reform - under the limelight once again after the Public Broadcasting Services called for the resignation of Broadcasting Authority's chairman Twanny Tabone after rapping PBS for its biased reporting.

"We know what we want and this isn't a public broadcasting which favours one party or the other but an unbiased service," Grech said.