Our readers never cease to impress. We asked you for more ideas to add to our April Fool manifesto and you did not disappoint. Here are another 52 amazing proposals to make Malta better. To send in more of your ideas, just answer our survey (English/Malti) and leave your suggestions at the end. 

And if you want to help us promote these ideas to make sure our politicians take notice, don’t forget to donate to our crowdfunding initiative. We’ve almost hit €5,000, but imagine what we can do with even more!

Transport

1. Create an elaborate network of ferries from The Three Cities and Kalkara to Valletta, Sliema, Msida, and Gzira, as well as a shuttle service to places like St Julians and Balluta, and south to Smart City, Zejtun, Zabbar and Fgura.

2. Replace car registration tax with usage charges, including charges to use the most congested roads or the park in the most difficult places to find parking. This would encourage people to buy newer cars but discourage excessive use. Cars should also be equipped with anonymous tracking systems enabling the government to verify when someone does not use the car and create incentives and disincentives accordingly. Insurance companies could also be roped in. 

3. Make public transport more responsive using the existing app by combining requests from bus stops so that people do not wait for scheduled buses, but rather buses are more efficiently used on the busiest routes which may vary from day to day.

4. Make public transport free and 24/7. 

5. Create a more efficient system for car accidents to be dealt with so cars do not jam traffic if they can be moved out of the way. 

6. Incentivise teachers to act as bus monitors on school transport while providing their own transport free of charge, to reduce the number of teachers using their own cars to go to work. 

7. Reduce costs for school transport to discourage parents taking kids to school by car. 

8. Develop small underground car parks across the island, with a standard parking fee that goes to the respective local councils.

9. Introduce trams to key areas such as between MIA and Valletta, Sliema, Paceville and Bugibba.

Education

10. Overhaul the education system to ensure better-informed citizens who are equipped with the necessary life skills, such as filling in tax returns, basic accounting, improving home efficiency, public speaking, and more. 

11. Revamp religion classes at schools, from a doctrine based syllabus to one that teaches children about different religions. Make ethics and philosophy compulsory at secondary school. 

12. Legalise homeschooling.

13. Drastically increase investment in the University of Malta, with an ambitious target to transform it into one of the best universities in Europe. 

Health

14. Increase the salaries of health care workers to ensure Maltese people continue aspiring for these jobs and keep offering the best form of care.

15. Invest in public TV programmes to educate people effectively on matters especially pertaining to public health.

16. Subsidise fruit and vegetables to encourage healthier eating. Offer tax credits for those who train sports regularly, no VAT on sporting equipment, clothes, memberships etc + subsidies.

17. Stiffen penalties and enforcement against overuse of pesticides in agriculture and antibiotics in husbandry. 

18. Offer free gym memberships for people with mental illness. 

Crime

19. Create a ‘criminal’ arm of the Attorney General’s office which will be responsible for prosecuting criminal cases instead of the police force. Divide the police force into the administrative arm (normal employees) and the enforcement arm (police offices who are paid better, physically fit and given more resources).

20. Reform the prison system with a focus on community work and providing skills training.

Business

21. Encourage big video game companies to set up shop in Malta (Valve, Activision, Blizzard, EA etc).

Development and Infrastructure

22. Make the Planning Authority truly independent on the same model as the courts. 

23. Disallow the regularisation of buildings such as boathouses near the coast of Malta. 

24. Appoint an aesthetics board composed of foreign and local experts who are changed regularly to vet all planning applications for a minimum standard of beauty. 

25. Develop a proper masterplan for Paceville focused on how it can be improved as an entertainment centre. 

26. Conduct a nationwide upgrade of pavements.

27. Nationalise Manoel Island. 

Environment

28. Enforce noise pollution laws around Malta by appointing a noise pollution watchdog.

29. For every new residence built, three trees must be planted as part of a nationwide afforestation project.

30. Heavy subsidies for renewable energy and grid independent systems (such as Tesla’s powerbank)

31. Give subsidies for turning roof space into green spaces that could reduce heat and energy consumption.  

32. Create a nationwide water policy to urgently tackle the drying up of Malta’s aquifers and the abuse of groundwater. 

33. Set a minimum requirement of rubbish bins in every street imposing on local councils. 

34. One system of garbage collection across the country with steep fines for those who do not comply and the introduction of eco-wardens. 

Cost of living

35. Increase pensions substantially by increasing national insurance across the board and increasing income tax for the richest. Give people the choice on when to stop working. 

36. Introduce rent-capping urgently. 

37. A public-private partnership to offer affordable housing to all. 

Other ideas

38. Don’t stop at legalising marijuana but also include other psychedelic drugs, while making Malta a hub for medical research using drugs, attracting some of the world’s best talent in the process.

39. Create a community house of LGBT+ refugees who face double discrimination.

40. Start an intensive integration programme, teaching migrants Maltese culture and languages, and providing them with skills. In return they can work on Maltese public works for, say, 65% of the minimum wage, with the rest taken to pay for their training. 

41. Provide specific assistance to older adults with disabilities.

42. Create an online platform that monitors every vote by MPs in Malta and makes it easy for users to track their vote online.

43. Offer subsidies to the independent press and find ways to wind down political party TV stations. 

44. Set up a good governance watchdog. 

45. Make Malta the leader at EU and international level, for island issues and climate change.

46. Create an actual youth parliament which can propose ideas and veto government initiatives.

47. Create a watchdog to combat unnecessary packaging and waste, to monitor supermarkets and ensure they are reducing waste, whether it is food or plastic.

48. Introduce a law by which any court case that has taken more than two years to be closed is sent to the Ombudsman to ascertain if the length is necessary or malpractice.

49. Provide assistance to NGOs who care for unwanted animals. Harsher fines for those who abuse animals. Give police more legislative powers to investigate crimes. 

50. Open a government-financed office to actually help people apply for EU funds. 

51. Change the taxation laws so that women remain persons in the eyes of the law after getting married. Women should not be insulted by having the receipts of their tax returns sent to their husbands.

52. Offer incentives for members of the public to present valid ideas for the improvement of the country.

Submit your own ideas by answering our survey, available both in English and Maltese

READ NEXT: This Is Your Chance To Win €40,000 To Change Malta

Chris Peregin

Christian is an award-winning journalist and entrepreneur who founded Lovin Malta, a new media company dedicated to creating positive impact in society. He is passionate about justice, public finances and finding ways to build a better future.