Leader Of The Opposition Keith Azopardi’s New Year Message 2024
Below follows the Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi’s New Year Message 2024:
As we leave 2023 behind and in its wake the closest general election ever there remain major challenges for this community.
Those issues that were at the heart of our campaign were not invented nor have they magically disappeared. They will not be eliminated by a flurry of social media activity from Ministers full of glitz but devoid of addressing the reality on the ground for many people.
While change was not achieved at the last general election the momentum towards it has grown massively. We will continue our work until it is achieved. The drive for change has come a long way over the last few years but we also recognise that we must learn from mistakes to ensure success and we will do that.
For the GSD the election season did not end on the 12 October. Under Party rules a leadership election had to be convened and this concluded on 5 December. It is a sign of the strength in depth of the GSD that we have now run three contested leadership elections since 2013. With a renewed democratic mandate we will, together, continue to go forward – stronger – as the pluralistic, diverse and representative GSD that we are – speaking for all sectors of our society and representing you.
In a new 9-8 dynamic in Parliament we will be your watchdog for change; to drive reforms to make your lives better until we have the opportunity of setting the agenda ourselves in Government.
The Chief Minister’s New Year Message was light on substance. Other than throwaway blanket assurances there was little to give you any comfort that the health or housing issues faced by families will be addressed. Over the last 12 years people have too often heard assurances that have proved hollow with the passage of time.
If there was little on health or housing there was absolutely nothing on the serious public finances crisis or the need to tackle other severe deficits affecting transparency, accountability or our democratic governance.
The last election was not a ringing endorsement of how things have been done and while the final verdict of people was to give the GSLP/Libs a wafer-thin majority this was, on any view, a suspended sentence of eviction. The Government was given a clear warning shot by the public which would need to be heeded. So far and three months into another term there is precious little by way of substance to demonstrate that they have really taken on board the message of the people. There have been platitudes sure enough but the hunger for reform cannot be fed on a diet of tweets or Instagram posts alone.
There have to be real measures that give people the comfort they are being heard and that housing, health or care problems are being fixed. So, power cuts continue despite repeated assurances that there had been sufficient investment to resolve issues once and for all; lack of financial transparency continues and for many the re-election of the GSLP/Libs has only meant that the time for resolution of their issues has been postponed again.
People will be forgiven for greeting the statement that 2024 is the crunch year for Brexit with the scepticism that the past justifies. Many would be right in thinking they have heard variations of all this before. In the meantime, and despite assurances the situation at the border has hardened and the promised status quo pending the outcome of negotiations is a long-lost hope. People suffer as a result from that uncertainty.
Since the Brexit referendum 7 years ago we have given the Government ample political space to negotiate and conclude a safe and beneficial agreement on a new relationship with the EU and we will continue to do so. Whether this meets the safe and beneficial test if it emerges can only be judged once the details of the agreement are known and ultimately this is something on which the people of Gibraltar will also have to express a view in a referendum in due course.
We will continue to hope for a safe and beneficial agreement but reject the arrogance of a Government who after 7 years of failure continue to assert that no-one could have done better than them.
Beyond BREXIT we have the looming McGrail Inquiry that will finally be heard this year. This casts a long and dark shadow over the Chief Minister and raises serious questions in relation to his conduct, the independence of our institutions and our democracy. Those questions fall to be answered by the Chairman of the Inquiry after a full exploration of the issues and we welcome that this will happen later this year. There can be no hiding place for the truth and it is in the public interest for this to happen in the most robust way possible.
On all those issues we will be there for you – listening to your concerns and lobbying for changes. Because we believe in a different Gibraltar. A modern Gibraltar where there is transparency and accountability; where there is fairness in getting jobs, awarding contracts or doing land deals. Where the same people do not always benefit and we govern for all and not just the privileged few. Where your families get the healthcare they need, the housing they deserve and the opportunities they seek. Where there is respect and no discrimination. Where we aspire that our young people should have a bright future and not a future as guerrilleros.
For now the achievement of that very different future for you has been postponed but we will work tirelessly for you over the term of this Parliament so that this becomes a reality. We will go from strength to strength building on the work of the last few years. We will conduct a sustained campaign of community engagement and outreach to listen to your concerns and ideas. We will provide robust but constructive Opposition. We will not be afraid to call out mistakes, spin or lies.
But we will also ensure we set out clear ideas for that bright future that we believe in. So that more of our people still are enthused by the prospect of change and back it. So that we have the opportunity to deliver that for you.
On behalf of all of my colleagues and me I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2024.
