more hot air from labour

Labour's latest motion calling on government to assist companies in Libya is another puff of hot air. The motion itself says that any such assistance should not cost the tax payers anything.
I hope that this also excludes any loss in government revenue which is needed more than ever to sustain our public services.
So what exactly this proposal means remains a mystery.
But coming so close to Muscat's latest statements on immigration, the motion is another step consolidating the party's new right wing identity based on the "national interest" ideology.
Why should we assist businessmen who were aware of investing in a dictatorship? I am not condemning them for doing so but business is by its very nature risky and investing in Gaddafi's Libya was even more of a risky venture. I am sure that as things went well these businesses raked their profits. Tough luck that there was a revolution.
And why should the state intervene in this case and not in the case of people who lost their money in say the collapse of the Lehman brothers or in some natural disaster? And why should money go to companies in Libya and not companies facing difficulties here?
But what irks me most is that Labour which has yet to condemn the Gaddafi regime has found time to present this motion.
Why not turn your guns on the confessional Nats, some pro labour guy might say...but all this talk the national interest has triggered something deep in my stomach ...