Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando
| Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament | |
|
In office 10 May 2008 – 10 March 2013 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
27 November 1963 Sliema, Malta |
| Spouse(s) | Carmen née Ciantar |
| Children |
Jenny Greg Marija |
| Religion | Christian |
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando (born Sliema, Malta, 27 November 1963) is a former Maltese member of parliament, currently serving as the chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology.
Early life
Orlando was educated at De La Salle College, Malta and the University of Malta. He graduated as a dental surgeon in 1987. He lives in Żebbuġ, Malta.
Orlando was very active, politically, as a student. He organised his first demonstration at the age of sixteen against the educational policies of the Socialist regime at the time. He was elected to represent his fellow students on the Faculty Board of the Faculty of Dental Surgery (UOM). He was also very active in the Nationalist Party youth movement (MŻPN).
Political Life
He was the first councillor elected to represent the Nationalist Party on the Żebbuġ Local Council in 1992. He subsequently contested the 1996, 1998, 2003 and 2008 General Elections successfully.
He has held the posts of shadow minister for telecommunications, Head of Delegation of the Maltese parliamentary delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Vice-President of the Assembly and is currently Executive Chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology.
He has been involved in a number of notable and successful campaigns. He campaigned against the establishment of a cement plant, a waste landfill next to the prehistoric temples of Mnajdra and an underground museum which could have potentially damaged St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta. He had the wide support of civil society on these issues.
He militated against abortion in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.[1] He campaigned for the introduction of divorce in Malta in 2011. He set up what was probably the only political movement in Maltese history to include individuals hailing from all parts of the political spectrum - Moviment IVA ghad-Divorzju, IVA ghaz-zwieg (The pro-divorce movement). This movement successfully campaigned against the joint might of the Nationalist Party in Government and the Church.
He also campaigned for gay rights and was instrumental in the introduction of legislation regulating In Vitro Fertilisation in Malta. Militating in favour of such controversial issues in predominantly Catholic Malta has made him the target of conservative journalists and columnists. Threats to his family have also been reported.
He resigned from the Nationalist Party on 20 July 2012, hence making him an Independent MP. He cited serious differences with high ranking Party officials as the reason for doing so. He did not contest the 2013 general election.
He set up the Anti-Cyberharassment Alliance in August 2013, together with a number of prominent individuals such as the former Chairperson of the pro-divorce movement, Dr. Deborah Schembri, and the former minister, Jesmond Mugliett.