Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/304008
€0.90 WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION WEDNESDAY • 30 APRIL 2014 • ISSUE 362 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Newspaper post BANK CHAIRMAN ADDRESSES POLITICAL GATHERING Editorial - PAGE 11 CONTINUES ON PAGE 6 PAGE 2 Cabinet left in the lurch as PM proposes decriminalisation Online poll reveals that over 33% agree with full declassifi cation of cannabis for people's recreational use ADDRESSING a press conference after the introduction of civil unions, a high spirited Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that next thing 'in line' would be the decriminalisation of drugs, albeit in small amounts and for first time offenders. Muscat said that he was proud to be in a party which was the agent of change. Yet the reformist Muscat is be- ing secretively questioned by some of his senior cabinet ministers who have expressed concern with the fact that they only learn about new policy moves through the press and through Cabinet. These complaints have been ex- pressed among governmental aides who have often heard their ministers complain that Muscat is not giving due importance to his Cabinet. They also claimed that many decisions were taken outside of the Cabinet, leaving ministers with the task of explaining the thinking behind the government's decisions. Indeed, Muscat's style of government has been eclipsed by his dominant persona, where decisions are taken by a small group of people and then ac- tioned by the same posse, reminiscent of the 'Blairite' style of governing. Muscat has been riding on a wave of euphoria after his civil union and adoption coup – which left the Oppo- sition in disarray – but he is also tak- ing advantage of a seemingly unstop- pable future with his historical nine seat majority which gives him a golden opportunity to address those social is- sues that would otherwise get bogged down in controversy. The Nationalist Party's reaction to Muscat's decriminalisation plans have been muted, and even public outcry has been surprisingly subdued. Re- acting to Muscat's announcements, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola said: "Muscat should reconcile his stand on this issue with his star candidate, Alfred Sant, who is adamant against the decriminalisa- tion for personal use." In an online poll on the MaltaToday portal, the number of respondents from 5,032 who disagree with the decriminalisation of drugs stood at 31.62%, 33.15% agree with full declas- sification of cannabis for people's rec- reational use and 35.23% only agree with decriminalisation for first time offenders with small amounts. Maltese child migrant tried killing himself, Australian commission hears MAT THEW VELLA ECHOES of the violent world of child migrants, amongst them Maltese emigrants, entrusted to the Christian Brothers back in the 1960s are reverberating in- side Australia's Royal Commis- sion into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The evidence makes for har- rowing reading, as a survey of the Australian press shows. A child migrant identified as 'VG' who says he had been raised "in a loving and close family in Malta", told the commission that reporting violent sexual assaults to priests in confessions only led to more brutal beatings and pun- ishment at the Christian Broth- ers' home of St Mary's Agricul- tural School in Tardun, a small town in Western Australia. VG was reported to have re- vealed "painful details of repeat- ed assaults, neglect and cruelt y" during the second day of the com- mission's public hearing into the experiences of boys at four Chris- tian Brothers orphanages. VG was testif ying with his wife at his side for support. After the death of his father, he was told he would be going on an "adventure" when he was sent to Western Australia.