What must the Labour Party do to remain relevant in today’s day and age?
The Malta Labour Party has always stood with and by the side of those who do not have power or influence. It was a Labour Government that established the welfare state that provided state pensions, universal healthcare, a framework of benefits that protect the most vulnerable in society, minimum wage legislation, equal pay for men and women, the 40-hour week, affordable housing for the masses, the industrialisation of the country, the setting up of a host of important public enterprises including Air Malta, Sea Malta and Telemalta, stipends for students and a host of other social and economic reforms. Those pillars established by previous Labour Governments have not been dismantled, which confirms that there are many achievements that Labour should be proud of. In fact Labour has created a social democratic consensus in local politics, which even the PN has embraced.
The challenge for the Malta Labour Party is whether it can continue to be the beacon of progressive politics for the 21st century. Success in the global economy is the ability to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). All developed and developing economies are competing for an increased share of FDI. Most FDI is focused in the advanced economies although China and India have increased their FDI during the past decade. There is no correlation between cheap labour and FDI. African countries offer cheap labour but attract the lowest levels of FDI. The so-called Asian miracle saw a high correlation between investment in universities and economic growth.
The lesson for Malta is clear: we need to attract higher levels of FDI. To do that we need to have more young people complete their secondary education successfully. Every year over 40% of our teenagers are leaving secondary school without passing their SEC exams in Maltese, English, Maths and a science subject. How can such waste of young people be allowed to go on? With so many unskilled young people how can we participate fully in today’s knowledge economy?
We need to create a labour force that is flexible and able to understand the nature of change. Education must become a lifelong process so that the dichotomy that exists between a period for formal education and working life diminishes over time, to be replaced by a system that supports the individual in an environment that seamlessly integrates working and learning throughout a person’s life.
As a country we score low on innovation and creativity. We need an education system that teaches us to be efficient, organised, methodical and scientific in how we approach our work. But we also understand that our future success lies in being audacious and innovative and we must train ourselves and our youngsters to be creative and versatile in our thinking.
While creating a business friendly environment to create wealth and jobs we must not allow forms of modern slavery through poor working conditions for those on contract and part time work.
Progressive politics has to deliver a new relationship between government and citizens where the workings of government are totally transparent within the confines of the need to respect individual privacy, where modern ICT technology is used to provide better public services and where citizens have a right to have their say, express approval or disapproval and more importantly contribute ideas and thoughts to how government is run.
Progressive politics has to focus on the needs of hard working families. We need to create an infrastructure of childcare services that will allow mothers to return to work after the birth of a child. We need schools to remain open longer hours for children to spend their day in school schools that will provide for both academic study and leisure and sport. There should be supplementary classes within school hours for those children that need support and extra tuition.
Increased life expectancy means that we shall have an expanding elderly population that deserve to live in dignity which means better pensions to improve household incomes but also to create structures that ensure empowerment. We therefore need a programme that creates forms of sheltered housing that allow the elderly to continue to live independent lives. Progressive politics means recognising the contribution of carers where day-to-day care takes places within families. We need to find ways that compensate carers to give them respite holidays. We need to create human rights charters that ensure the elderly are not abused in retirement homes that in retirement homes staffs had the right levels of training.