Speaker of the House of Representatives Anglu Farrugia said that parliamentary sessions will be streamed and filmed live as soon as parliament reconvenes, on 13 October.
Most parliamentary committee sessions are already filmed and streamed live, however parliamentary sessions are not so far and are just aired live on radio.
Speaking to this newsroom, Dr Farrugia said that he will be asking both parliamentary groups if they agree with the proposal of a television channel to specifically air all parliamentary sessions live as well.
All this and more is set to happen at the new parliament building.
Dr Farrugia said that if both parliamentary groups agreed with his television channel proposal, the next step would be simple: to implement it since according to Dr Farrugia, everything is in place to do so.
“I have made arrangements so that the service could be made available immediately; the only issue is that both groups have to agree to this proposal,” he said.
Dr Farrugia said that he will be presenting this proposal on the first day parliament meets after the summer recess.
“The live streaming of all sessions, along with a TV channel airing the sessions, will render Parliament more “transparent” to the public. “This, he said, in itself brings the population at large in touch with what is being said in parliament, in other words bringing parliament even closer to citizens.”
PL whip Carmelo Abela
PL whip Carmelo Abela said that such a proposal is part of the PL’s election manifesto and therefore the PL in government can never be against this proposal.
“Although we agree with this proposal in principle, one would have to sit down and do some fine tuning regarding the rules of procedure," he said.
PN whip David Agius
Contacted, PN whip David Agius said that he informed the Speaker on behalf of the PN parliamentary group that “we are in favour of a parliamentary TV channel as long as what has been agreed upon to date stays as is”.
Explaining further, Mr Agius said that in the event there will be any future developments, both groups will have to agree to such changes, if any.
In a nutshell, he said, it is vital guidelines are adhered to.