Malta’s high commissioner to Australia interviewed inside his Canberra men’s outfitters
Published:
October 27, 2013 at 6:35pm
Malta’s high commissioner to Australia, who just like Malta’s high commissioner to India is a naturalised Australian, was interviewed on TVM this afternoon.
Charles Muscat spoke against a backdrop of suits in the men’s outfitters shop he has owned and run in Canberra for the last 40 years or so.
He should more properly have been made an honorary consul, but given that we seem determined to make ourselves look as foolish as possible, why not have a Maltese high commissioner whose overseas posting is actually where he has lived already for the last many decades, and who has much, much more vested in Australia, to which he owes his primary loyalty, than he does in Malta?
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E.T. is rather appropriate given that he is more Alien (in the context of identity documentation) than he is Maltese.
And the backdrop of suits is so befitting of his post that I am actually lost for words.
Seems that the ET is either running the affairs of the High Commission from his shop, or else he has kept his shop as his priority and does not even have the time to speak to the Maltese media at the High Commission.
The motto of the High Commission in Canberra must be “business as usual.”
Being interviewed inside his shop he is getting a tremendous amount of publicity for his business – and all for free. Typical of the scroungers and freeloaders for whom the Partit Laburista is a natural home.
Trid tiftakar li skond il-guidelines tal-ministeru ta’ George Vella, il-mira l-gdida tal-missjonijiet diplomatici barra minn Malta hija li jitkabbar in-negozju.
Mill-banda l-ohra ma nistax nimmagina kif jista’ jaghmel publicita’ ghan-negozju tieghu (fl-Awstralja) fuq TVM.
Iktar nahseb li jirrifletti kemm l-istandards taghna waqghu fil-baxx.
Nispera ma ndumux wisq ma nibdew nisimghu l-espressjoni: kemm konna ahjar meta konna ‘aghar’.
This sets an appalling precedent.
It vitiates the ability of the host State to exercise its right to declare the Ambassador to be a “persona non grata” and require him to be recalled to Malta, under Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
It is also patently absurd that Australia must now treat one of its own citizens as immune to civil or criminal prosecution, and from most taxes and customs duties. Many of these privileges would ordinarily extend to the Ambassador’s family members, if they also reside in the host country.
It is true that Malta may have expressly agreed to waive some or all of these privileges in connection with this particular appointment, but why jump through hoops and place other nations in an awkward position, when Malta has well-trained and professional career diplomats, who are perfectly qualified and willing to take on a posting in Canberra?
Because by their very nature well- trained and professional people cannot also be Laburisti ppatentjati or grossly unprincipled opportunists, either of which (or both) is a prerequisite for any appointment under a PL government.
Couldn´t the new Maltese high commissioner to Australia spare a suit from his stock and donate it to the poor man with the name of Joseph Muscat?
I think it would be a nice gesture for the man who is giving him so much money from our taxes.
Millionaires like Joseph Muscat shouldn’t be wearing off-the-peg suits.
If this man is an Australian citizen he should not be eligible to receive the allowances paid to diplomats to cater for the fact that they are living in a country which is not their own. Could we have a PQ please?
What if Malta has a problem with Australia? They would not be able to chuck out the Maltese high commissioner because he is an Australian citizen.
This is precisely what happens when you put amateurs is top position. And Malta’s image which took so much years and hard work to rebuild after the Mintoff era goes down the drain.
With reference to this blog, I would like to clarify that this interview was filmed in April 2013, well before our guest was appointed high commissioner. This was amply stated in the feature. It is one of several TV features that focus on entrepreneurs amongst the Maltese Australian community. Apart from the due mention of Mr Muscat`s appointment in the text, this feature has no reference whatsoever with the post and duties of high commissioner, because at the time, this appointment simply did not exist.
[Daphne – You’ve got the wrong end of the stick. That interview served to underscore the point being made that the new Maltese High Commissioner to Australia is an Australian citizen with an Australian business built up over decades, and that he is primarily Australian, not Maltese.]