Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/655581
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 20 MARCH 2016 15 and change ourselves. My good governance package recognises both our past mistakes and this government's mess. We know we've committed mis- takes, we've learnt from them, but this government has gone the other extreme: there have never been such high-level accusations of corruption before against a prime minister's deputy leader and his chief of staff. You call for a separation of par- ty and state in your document: no party officials as persons of trust or on public boards, and persons of trust limited to ministerial secretariats. What about party officials employed as consultants according to expertise? And busi- nesspeople on public boards and companies? I don't agree that top party of- ficials get a government position. Someone in a top-ranking party position should not have one foot in the party, and the other in gov- ernment; a PN secretary-general should not be a government con- sultant. You cannot eliminate eve- ryone, otherwise no government could function, taking as an exam- ple some party member who is not an official, but is a legal expert. It's already difficult finding good peo- ple in politics. I will be pragmatic. I want to clean up the system, but I would use a businessman with proven compe- tence as long as there is no conflict of interest; we'll make rules limit- ing appointments to just one board with a maximum of two terms. I will also reduce persons of trust to the bare essential. What I don't accept is to have a janitor or dog handler being appointed on per- son-of-trust basis. You also want to stop ministeri- al staff in the private secretariat from presenting TV programmes on party media; there was a simi- lar situation under the PN but it has worsened under Labour. Let me turn to an opposite example: do you think it is acceptable for one of your local councillors on the party radio station, David Thake, to 'doorstep' a Labour Party journalist, Janice Bartolo, for the sake of having a live tiff on radio? The rule for someone who works in government was that they stopped working for the party. To- day you have the Prime Minister's aide writing a blog targeting people and a [radio] programme, being paid out of our taxes. My clear rule is that people who will work for the government must be cut off from their [party] political role. Is David Thake right in what he does? Of course, the Opposition should keep the government under scrutiny. He's calling a One News jour- nalist, not a government official. There's no difference between a One News journalist and the gov- ernment. She's not paid from the State, but from a party… You're being too kind… David Thake's aim was not to get at that individual. The point was to ask whether the government, and One News, are right in lying about Ann Fenech [Labour has hit out at the PN executive president because her law firm had registered an off- shore company in Panama back in 2003] in their attempt at putting her on the same level as Konrad Mizzi and deviating attention from the story. You described the Prime Min- ister's statement in favour of gay marriages as a non-issue: you were once ideologically opposed to giving civil unions the same rights as marriage, but since the PN's abstention you say that chapter is closed and you have moved on, that civil unions are today 'gay marriage' in all but name. Do you also believe that a gay couple should have access to IVF, which implies the donation of gametes and embryo freezing? The current IVF law, which per- mits egg freezing, is a good law, that is also giving results as good as in any other country. You don't change a winning horse. It is evi- dent that a gay couple cannot have children naturally and therefore the IVF law does not permit this. I don't agree that IVF is offered to gay couples but our law already al- lows gay adoptions. Even this issue is behind us. We will respect this law even if elected in government. Today you propose yourself as a standard bearer for honest politics. Before 2013 even Joseph Muscat portrayed himself as a leader who could change politics; why should people trust you? Even I am disappointed with Muscat, and surprised at the new lows he's reached. I have recog- nised that the PN is not perfect; I have taken steps on people and their actions, even those broken in MaltaToday, which is why I put myself forward on good govern- ance; and because I have radical proposals on good governance. I am here to make a radical differ- ence. Enough of more of the same. Only one of the two major parties can make this change: let's change one of these two parties from with- in, to arrive at where we want to. All I want is the chance to prove to people that I am genuine in what I am saying. If you lose the election, will you resign or go for the party del- egates post-election vote of con- fidence? My aim is going to the election. Nobody would imagine the kind of steps the PN has made in three years. I want to be focused on the country. It's the country that has to come out from this blind alley; what happens to me is secondary. You always say you started at 'minus 36,000 votes' – would there be an 'acceptable electoral loss' for you? I'm not thinking about that. I want to win the next election to save the country from the situation it is currently in. Interview Opposition leader SIMON BUSUTTIL bills himself as the person who can bring the country out of a blind alley when it comes to good governance. And since 'Panamagate', the PN leader has been riding high…