May 17 - Government will expose Opposition inconsistencies and govern Gibraltar at the same time
There are clear inconsistencies between the Opposition’s recent statements and the actions of the GSD when it was in office. The Opposition must understand that the Government will continue to expose such inconsistencies because the current Government is happy, willing and able to criticise its predecessor and to govern Gibraltar at the same time.
The Opposition should also understand that what they did in Government is far from irrelevant to the debate. It is actually crucial that the electorate understands that the GSD is now saying the opposite of what it used to do. The GSD is clearly very uncomfortable when references are made to the recent past, even though in 2011 they themselves were still referring back to the period before they came into office, some 23 years previously.
Indeed, even their latest statement on the issue of answering questions in Parliament and not in the media is itself full of inconsistencies. The Opposition now say that the practice of not issuing statements after Opposition questions have been received by a Government department exists to prevent the Government “from driving a coach and horses through questions lodged by the Opposition.” It would appear that the GSD while riding their coach and horses on the road to Damascus have undergone a conversion of similar or greater proportions.
This is because the practice of issuing Government press releases on the subject matter of Parliamentary questions, after these had been tabled, was started and developed by them when they were in office. It is ironic that they should now complain that this constitutes “driving a coach and horses” when they have been at the receiving end but it was not “driving a coach and horses” when they were the ones dishing it out. Moreover, in the context of a very active GSLP/Liberal Government and monthly meetings of Parliament, it has already been explained that this now happens more by accident than by design. There was no such mitigation to excuse the GSD’s behaviour when they were in power, given the infrequent meetings of the House.
It is also absolutely incredible that the GSD Opposition, which does not believe that Government projects should be submitted to the Development and Planning Commission (DPC) at all, should feel that it is somehow qualified to lecture this Government on what it does with its own projects. The Opposition spent years ignoring and by-passing the DPC, the Town Planning Department and other officials and civil servants in relation to Government projects. They preferred instead to do things in secret and with private consultants and contractors.
They have no moral authority whatsoever to criticise the Government on this point.
The Government continues to present projects IN PUBLIC to the DPC at this stage for guidance and advice. This is in itself a vast improvement from what existed before. The policy of the Government is that its own projects will be subject to the full planning process during this term of office once the new Town Planning Act is ready. The Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia, who is responsible for planning, informed Parliament yesterday that this piece of legislation is already at quite an advanced stage of preparation.
In their unseemly haste to criticise the Government for everything under the sun, the Opposition have their facts wrong. The “Sunborn” project was discussed by the DPC on the 25 April. The vessel did not leave for Gibraltar until 10 May. This proves that it cannot possibly have been a done deal in planning terms which is the very basis of their argument. They are simply plain wrong. The vessel was not on its way before the DPC had the opportunity to discuss it.
The Government is supporting the “Sunborn” project because we believe that a £150 million investment and the creation of over 150 jobs can only be a good and positive thing for Gibraltar. It is for the Opposition, which spent years advocating in office that there should be more hotel beds and that the concept of a floating hotel had some value, to explain how their view has altered so drastically in such a short period of time.
