Watch | PN resorts to past when it cannot attack PL - Deborah Schembri

Speaking on her decision to stand as a candidate with the Labour Party – in spite of coming from a staunch Nationalist family – Schembri said the Nationalist Party was no longer the party she once believed in.

“The PN was a party which tried to bring people together and always tried to be positive, while the Labour Party was different. However, the tables have turned.”

Speaking in an interview with Saviour Balzan on Reporter, aired today on Favourite Channel, the former IVA movement chairperson criticised government for the way it continues to refer to the PL during the 80s. Balzan asked Schembri whether she feels uncomfortable with the PL when one considers its past.

“I do not feel uncomfortable at all: if there were serious problems with the PL today the Prime Minister wouldn’t need to continuously dig up and remind us of the past,” Schembri said, adding that it is the PN which is facing huge problems.

She added that she is not comfortable with how the PN is operating internally: “Certain youth and people are there for the show and they are not given the space to contribute. If I join a party, I want to be in a position where I can give my contribution, and not simply be used as means for the party to gain more votes.”

Asked how Nationalist MP and divorce bill promoter Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando took her Labour candidature, Schembri said he had always encouraged her to make her contribution “where I felt most comfortable”.

Speaking on the divorce law, Schembri saidno changes have been carried out in the legal structure to support the divorce law.

“There were no changes in the administration, like, for example, increasing the number of members of the judiciary assigned to the Family Court. With the new law, there is obviously going to be an influx of divorce cases,” Schembri said in an interview with Saviour Balzan on Reporter, aired yesterday on Favourite Channel.

“During the campaign, we had insisted for mediation in the cases, but so far no particular changes have been carried out with mediation.”

Schembri added this is a problem that needs immediate attention, especially considering the small amount of judges and magistrates in the family court, and how it already takes ages for a sentence to be delivered.