Labour general conference | Party showcases Mintoff pedigree and ‘star candidates’

Additional reporting by Miriam Dalli.

Progressives and moderates, old and new. Inside Labour headquarters, the general conference buzzed with the excitement of a prospective electoral campaign that is catching the prime minister napping. As speaker after speaker regurgitated the mantra of "tired government" and missives against the PN's unofficial sleaze machine, one delegate's speech broke the tedium with her English-affected delivery.

Yana Mintoff Bland, 61, delivered a brief speech against the "right wing" and the 'GonziPN' government she is only recently experiencing after leaving the United States to tend to her ailing father, former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff.

With her pedigree and radical street-cred (at 26, the 'coprophilic dissident' threw horse manure inside the House of Commons in protest against the British military presence in Northern Ireland), Yana Mintoff symbolised the link to Labour's past that showed the party's sense of ascendency today was also based on unprecedented unity inside the Opposition.

"My father taught me that the working man comes first, to think first of the working class and the suffering... and my mother gave me this accent," Mintoff said, whose mother's noble stock also set her apart from the Labour delegates.

Her speech today was tempered by the wisdom of age, but there were inklings of her father's anti-militarist doctrine. "Democracy and sovereignty must come first and foremost. The fact that the government took us into NATO's partnership for peace in 2008 without discussing it in parliament is shameful. The new government must nurture democracy and our country's freedom."

Even when she turns to the problems she sees in Malta, she mentions air pollution as a direct consequence of the country's "failed" energy policy to install a heavy fuel oil plant at Delimara. "Or 'smelly-mara' I should say. It was the most beautiful place in the world," she says of her father's summer residence, l-Gharix, which became the backyard to the new power station built by the Nationalist administration in the 1990s. The Mintoff family were handsomely compensated for the bother with over €1 million in damages from the law courts.

"Except for a clique of crooks, working conditions in this country have deteriorated. I emphasise that the family is the basis of the economy, and if the family is weak, the problems of alcohol and violence are more likely to increase, and with that comes a lack of education and quality of life.

"The roots of all development lies in the health and peace of the country, the family and the environment... the right wing is not greater than the left, the difference lies in caring, caring about the poor among us, the family, our culture, education, and the environment."

Her nod to Joseph Muscat, entrusting him with a government that "will give Malta stability", was met by the Opposition leader's approving finger-gun gesture.

Other star candidates took to the podium, hailing Joseph Muscat's ability to bring the Labour party in from the cold that marked its anti-EU days. Among them were people like divorce campaigner Deborah Schembri, once a Nationalist who protested Labour's stipend cuts for university students. Another was lawyer Emanuel Mallia, who also hailed Muscat's ability to bring to his party former Nationalist voters, and announced his candidature.

Former Sea Malta chairman and Labour MEP candidate Marlene Mizzi, took up the mantle for Labour's business-friendly face, stressing on "the importance of entrepreneurs" and of the meetings Labour's business forum had with unions and entrepreneurs.

"A look at the party's past reveals it always was a workers' party. It is thanks to Labour that we have strong workers' rights today. Today Labour is also the employer's party, and we must take care of the employer and eradicate the 'us versus them' concept between employer and the employed."

Mizzi said Labour had to send a clear message that it was both on the side of workers and employers. "We recognise that it's the employer's investment that creates wealth and growth... we want to send a clear message that employers are the oil in the machine of the economy. The middle class is no longer the exclusive social class of the Nationalist party."

The standing ovation for Robert Abela, son of the former Labour deputy leader and President of the Republic George Abela, was deafening: yet another link to the recent past when things went downhill for Labour in 1998.

Abela mounted a scathing criticism of the Nationalist administration:

"What does it take for this government to admit it to the crisis it is passing through? The Prime Minister says we are not in election mode, and yet he called on Austin Gatt to take care of the election campaign just a few days ago. If he sees him as such an asset, why didn't he tell him to resign and take of the party machine? It's clear the party is more important than the country to Lawrence Gonzi."

Abela said Labour did want to take power, "but while the PN wants power for a small clique, we want the power to do good. That's the fundamental difference between the two parties."

Abela said the government had assumed a "divine right to power", offering nothing new but "20 years of the same faces... at least in 2008 they had GonziPN to save their face."

Speeches of the day also focused on the criticism that was now also emanating from rebel Nationalist MP Franco Debono. Broadcasting policy, party financing, the environment of democracy were all favoured themes of the day.

Education shadow minister Evarist Bartolo mentioned Debono as yet another victim of the "campaign of lies" from both the official and unofficial PN media. "They are ready to lie about you... but Joseph's movement welcomes people from every walk of life. They criticised Debono because he comes from a small village like Ghaxaq, because he's not somebody's son. This is the way they treat their own people."

Bartolo said Labour's campaign will have to fend off the government's "lies". "We must be ready for more lies, that we will reduce stipends, reduce learning support assistants for children with special needs, that we'll increase school hours until 4pm... they need these lies because teachers are angry with the government.