[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.]

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’.

Millionaires like Joseph Muscat shouldn’t be wearing off-the-peg suits.

I think it would be a nice gesture for the man who is giving him so much money from our taxes.

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.

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.

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?