What was proposed this week?

Prime Minister Robert Abela pledged that teachers’ salaries will increase “significantly” if the Labour Party wins the upcoming election.

“There will be a significant improvement to teacher salaries, you deserve it for all you’re doing for our children,” Abela told a rally in Santa Luċija earlier this week.

The Prime Minister also said that when the time comes for a new collective agreement with the Malta Union of Teachers, the government’s negotiating position will be clear.

Robert Abela also strongly hinted that couples will soon be able to screen embryos for genetic problems prior to their implantation during IVF procedures. He also said that parents will be allowed to access free IVF to give birth to a second child even if they don’t have any frozen embryos or if their first child was born through natural means. 

Abela also announced that Form 1 students will be given laptops, free of charge, after he realised just how important laptops are when a parent of three told him their family struggled to cope with online lessons during the pandemic. 

Abela also pledged to extend free childcare to all children, irrespective of whether their parents work or not, while also saying that the children’s allowance will increase by €90 a year for all five years of a future PL government, noting this means that parents currently receiving €450 will receive €900 by the end of the legislature.

But apart from that, the PL’s manifesto is still nowhere to be seen.

The reappearance of Joseph Muscat

Perhaps another highlight for this week was the increase in the reappearance of Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Muscat appeared at the election campaign launch of MP Rosianne Cutajar, as well as at the events of other candidates, such as Deo Debattista and Glen Bedingfield.

And while Muscat is showing more of his face, Robert Abela seems to be at the sidelines during this election week, with all of Malta starting to feel his absence.

Ian Borg’s response to Bernard Grech’s joke

Ending on a little bit of a lighter note, Minister Ian Borg responded to the humourous joke that Opposition leader Bernard Grech made earlier this week, speaking of turning the Labour HQ into ODZ land as part of the PN’s proposal.

It’s safe to say that Borg perhaps did not really understand that it was a joke, and straight-up told Grech that it is not even a matter to joke around, to begin with.

And that’s all for election week two!

What did you make of the Labour Party’s week 2?