Tourism Minister ignores ethics breach involving wife during parliamentary debate

Updated at 7:20pm with Tourism Minister's speech

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo completely ignored the controversy around his ethics breach when speaking in parliament on the budget estimates for the tourism sector on Monday.

Bartolo’s only reference was a jibe towards Opposition leader Bernard Grech, who earlier dedicated a 30-minute intervention in parliament to address the ethics breach.

“The Opposition leader wasted 30 minutes attacking me and my family personally in ways never seen in this parliament without speaking about the tourism sector,” Bartolo said in what was a clear attempt to curry sympathy.

He was speaking as hundreds of people outside parliament  demanded that he resign along with fellow minister Clint Camilleri, who was also implicated in the ethics breach. The protest was organised by the Nationalist Party.

Instead of addressing the ethics breach, Bartolo spoke of government’s vision for quality tourism. He insisted that the newly introduced Skills Pass was intended to ensure that tourism frontliners could communicate well with clients. He emphasised that a reform of the short-lets market next year will not undermine the investment people have made over the past years but will seek to promote quality and achieve balance.

He also defended the Malta Film Commission and promised further investment to render it more efficient.

Bartolo then took to task Opposition proposals from a draft unpublished pre-budget document, criticising several suggestions targeting the tourism sector. He insisted it was only a Labour government that had the right answers to strengthen the industry.

The tourism estimates debate was overshadowed by the Bartolo affair, with every speaker from the Opposition referring to the ethics breach.

The Standards Commissioner had found that Bartolo and fellow minister Clint Camilleri abused their positions to give the former’s then girlfriend, Amanda Muscat, a consultancy contract she was not qualified for. Muscat, who subsequently married Bartolo last summer, had been working as a private secretary for Bartolo and continued doing the same work even when given a new job posting with a substantially higher income.

Bartolo and Camilleri have refused to resign despite pressure from several quarters.

Grech urges Labour MPs to call out wrongdoing

Meanwhile, in parliament earlier today, Opposition leader Bernard Grech urged government MPs to call out Clayton Bartolo and Clint Camilleri’s wrongdoing. “The minister was only interested in keeping his girlfriend happy,” Grech charged repeatedly.

Grech said the ethics breach flagged by the Standards Commissioner was symptomatic of a government that simply wanted to keep those close to it happy.

“They are not interested in the wellbeing of the people; they are only interested in keeping happy those who are close to them,” Grech said.

He insisted that while ordinary people who made wrong decisions had to face the consequencs of their actions, Bartolo believed it was enough for him to say ‘sorry’.

“For Clayton Bartolo it is enough to say sorry despite defrauding the public purse just to keep his girlfriend happy,” Grech said.

He accused the government of not being in touch with the daily troubles of ordinary people, who have to go out and work to earn a living.

The Opposition leader said all Labour MPs, who support Bartolo and Camilleri, are being an accomplice in the scandal and urged them to stand up and be counted.

“You should say that what ministers Bartolo and Camilleri did was wrong; what the Prime Minister has failed to do is wrong; otherwise you are confirming how out of touch you are with ordinary people,” Grech said, adding that Labour MPs were not realising how angry people are.

Grech was preceded by shadow tourism spokesperson Mario de Marco who also harped on the gravity of the Bartolo affair, while hitting out at the lack of investment in public infrastructure to ensure quality tourism.

PN MP Julie Zahra spoke about the film industry and sarcastically asked the Tourism Minister whether he would be saying ‘sorry’ to Maltese film producers for the reduced funding they had to contend with when compared to the cash rebate for foreign producers. PN MP Eve Borg Bonello also spoke on the same lines.

Parliamentary Secretary for public cleansing Glenn Bedingfield, who falls within the tourism ministry, and Labour backbencher Katya De Giovanni also ignored the Standards Commissioner report, focussing on other aspects of the sector.