Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/812895
2 JEANELLE MIFSUD AS the election rumour mill is in overdrive, government yesterday announced that hundreds cur- rently on three-year contracts with public authorities and agen- cies will also get an indefinite con- tract. This follows a sweeping reform announced last week which prin- cipal permanent secretary Mario Cutajar said would address a dis- crimination created in the past between civil servants, and those employed from outside the public service. Now the reform has been extend- ed to employees of public entities, a government statement said. The extension will affect posi- tions within public entities listed by Jobsplus or under public notice, as well as internal calls that do not fall under the cap of senior man- agement. The public service circular stip- ulates that public entities must take the necessary measure to conform with the new directive within 10 days. The new rules standardise pro- bation periods across all sectors and will now help the public ser- vice remain competitive by retain- ing its best employees indefinitely, Cutajar said. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 19 APRIL 2017 News Thursday TVM 20:50 'Deal could fall through' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 She subsequently stood for the 1998 General Elections on the Nationalist Party ticket when she gained 311 first count votes from the fifth electoral district and was not elected. She had also contested the seventh district and obtained a meagre 355 votes. Farrugia then crossed the Rubicon and contested the 2008 elections on behalf of the Labour Party and was elected from the fifth electoral dis- trict with a total of 3,375 first- count votes. She was re-elect- ed from the same electoral district in 2013, garnering 2,525 first-count votes. On Thursday's Xtra, the MP will defend the newly- formed Democratic Party's pact with the PN, saying that although an agreement has been reached, the two sides were still engaged in talks over the finer details of the deal, including a common electoral programme. While admitting that the deal could fall through if no agreement is reached on the common programme, Farru- gia said there was broad agree- ment on good governance, en- vironmental protection, social justice, a sustainable economy "which works for everyone" and electoral reform. Indefinite contracts reform extended to public entities Principal permanent secretary Mario Cutajar Hunter has licence permanently revoked, fined €5,000 for shooting protected bird A man has had his hunting license permanently revoked, his hunting- rifle confiscated and was fined €5,000 after being found guilty of shooting and killing a protected bird last week. Video footage taken by conserva- tion group BirdLife Malta, that wit- nessed the hunter shooting down the stone curlew on Thursday, showed the hunter retrieving the shot bird at Ahrax, limits of Mellieha at around 7:30am, as well as him shooting at a second bird, which he missed. The stone curlew is listed under Schedule 1 of the Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations and is af- forded the highest protection by the law. The footage led to police officers from the Administrative Law En- forcement (ALE) unit to identify and press charges against 33-year-old Anthony Galea, of Mosta. Galea was charged with attempt- ing to shoot down two protected birds of the same species, shooting one down and failing to inform the authorities as required by law, trying to keep the protected bird that was shot down and hunting a bird that is not on the approved list. Magistrate Joe Mifsud, presiding over the case, remarked that the courts have no objection to hunters responsibly enjoying their right to hunt, but would not tolerate crimi- nal actions. While noting that the majority of hunters practice their sport "seri- ously and responsibly", magistrate Mifsud lamented on the few who are not keeping in line with the law, to the detriment of those who are. According to BirdLife Malta, the stone curlew was the 13th shot, protected bird out of a total of 15 to be recovered during this spring hunting season, which closed on Friday. Since the closing of the season, five more protected birds have been shot, BirdLife Malta said, including two stone curlews (one of which was retrieved by a member of the public in Pembroke), a marsh har- rier found by a group of hikers at Miġra l-Ferħa, a hoopoe found by a family who was walking in Xewki- ja, Gozo, and a dying turtle dove found by a Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) team in Safi. Wild Birds Regulation Unit head Sergei Golovkin said that this year's season was rather poor in terms of spring migration, with only 130 quails shot. According to BirdLife Malta, this translates to 10% of the birds known to have been shot this spring season being illegally target- ed protected birds. In his ruling, magistrate Mifsud said he intended to make an exam- ple out of the accused that the pen- alty acts as a strong deterrent. "This is not a case of the accused being unaware of the consequences of his actions. The court is con- vinced that there are still others who believe that when breaking the law there is a chance of not being caught, or should they be caught there is a chance that they would not be found guilty, or in the case of guilt the pen- alty would not be so bad," he said. "Nature belongs to everybody...this case should serve as a warning to all. All in all, it should serve the respon- sible hunters and help them to col- laborate with the police in order to catch more irresponsible hunters, like what happened in this case." The court ordered the man to have his hunting licence permanently re- voked and his hunting-rifle confis- cated, and to pay a fine to the tune of €5,000. Inspector Colin Sheldon pros- ecuted. Lawyer Alfred Abela represented the accused. Video footage taken by conservation group BirdLife Malta showed the hunter retrieving the shot bird at Ahrax, limits of Mellieha