Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:29:59): My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Planning, Minister Wynne, and the action I seek is for his office to urgently move to protect the heritage buildings and trees at risk due to the level crossing removals in my area.

In August I called on the Minister for Transport Infrastructure to meet directly with residents to hear their concerns about the proposed demolition of the historic signal boxes and the removal of trees at Gandolfo Gardens due to the Level Crossing Removal Project works in the Coburg area.

I also requested that the minister ensure they find an alternative site for their heavy machinery. And this is the thing—we have got these 108-year-old trees that are going to be removed so that the Level Crossing Removal Project trucks can be parked somewhere.

Those at the Level Crossing Removal Project say, ‘Well, it would cost us a lot of money to park our trucks somewhere else’.

Mr Somyurek interjected.

Ms PATTEN: This is for the Minister for Planning, thank you, Minister. The Minister for Transport Infrastructure did not act on either of my requests for a meeting so I am really calling on the Minister for Planning now to try to get this sorted, because I understand that he has intervened. Quite strangely he has sidelined the Heritage Council.

This was after the Heritage Council said that both the trees and the signal boxes should be protected. This is the week that we announced that we are not going to be logging in native forests, yet we are going to be knocking down 100-year-old trees.

So I ask if the minister will immediately step in to protect these historic signal boxes in Coburg and the 100-year-old trees in Gandolfo Gardens. The residents of Coburg have got less trees than pretty much any other suburb.

These trees are 108 years old. It took the community about 40 years to get these trees and these gardens established, and to say that they have to be knocked down so trucks can be parked for a $542 million project—surely we can find an alternative to this.

Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Adjournment 14/11/19

Answer

Answered: 5 February 2020
Mr WYNNE (Richmond—Minister for Housing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Planning):

I note the concerns of Ms Patten in relation to the potential impacts of the Level Crossing Removal Project on heritage buildings and trees in the Coburg area.

The Bell-Moreland Level Crossing Removal Project includes proposed works within the Upfield Railway Line corridor, which is partially included in the Victorian Heritage Register and affected by heritage overlays under the Moreland Planning Scheme. Works are also proposed in Gandolfo Gardens within the Upfield Railway Line corridor which is affected by heritage overlays.

On 27 October 2019 I approved Amendment C178more to the Moreland Planning Scheme which facilitates the project by allowing the use and development of land in accordance with the specific control in the Bell and Moreland Level Crossing Removal Project Incorporated Document, October 2019.

The incorporated document requires that a report be prepared to my satisfaction that addresses the impact of development on the heritage significance of the following local heritage places: the Tinning Street railway gates; rail sidings on Colebrook Street; the Munro Street signal box; trees affected by Heritage Overlay (HO115)—Moreland Station Precinct; the Coburg substation, Munro Street; and roads within a Heritage Overlay where roadworks would change the appearance of the place.

On 20 November 2019 I determined to amend the State heritage registration for the Upfield Railway Line. The amendment affirms the State significance of the place is associated with the nineteenth century development of the line. This is consistent with the recommendations of Heritage Victoria and the Heritage Council of Victoria, who undertook independent assessments of the line against State heritage criteria.

The amended heritage place comprises station buildings and land at Jewell, Brunswick, Moreland and Coburg Stations, and individual gatekeepers’ cabins, signal boxes, gates and signals located between Park Street, Brunswick and Bell Street, Coburg. The amendment does not include the twentieth century features, or places unrelated to the Upfield Railway Line such as the Gandolfo Gardens.

Heritage approvals under the Heritage Act 2017 will be required for any proposed works that will impact on the cultural heritage significance of places included on the Victorian Heritage Register on the Upfield Railway Line.

I will carefully assess documents submitted for my approval in accordance with the requirements of the Moreland Planning Scheme.

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:01:41): My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Priority Precincts, and it concerns Docklands Central Pier.

The action I seek is for the minister to urgently provide support for the businesses and the employees at the pier. As many of you know, the pier was shut down urgently overnight on 28 August. That was two months ago.

Development Victoria has refused to share any information with the tenants there. They actually met with them on the 27th and did not mention that there were any concerns, and then on the 28th they were closed down and evacuated—and it has been that way since then.

The pier has been under investigation since 2013. Every two months engineers go down there. But now we hear from Development Victoria that they will not even be able to tell the tenants if they will be able to move back in. They will not even be able to tell them until 6 January.

This is the busiest time of the year. They have got 1300 employees.

They cannot even get insurance now for the properties and for the stuff that they have on the pier because no-one will insure them because they do not know the safety of the pier, so they are in this absolute catch 22 situation. We get a million guests down towards the pier at this time of year.

The businesses around Docklands are feeling the downturn on this, and we have got, as I say, 1300 workers that just do not know whether they are going to have a job before Christmas or even after Christmas. It is just really not good enough, and I think Development Victoria should really be doing what they can to assist effectively their tenants.

These are tenants who have been there since 2006 and have invested over $50 million in Central Pier, which has become quite an iconic location for visitors to Victoria. So I really cannot stress enough how much people are suffering as a result of Development Victoria’s inability to communicate and I think also recognise that they have an obligation to the tenants there and that by closing down the businesses people are losing literally millions of dollars.

It costs those tenants $2 million a month just to stay afloat down there. I call on the Minister for Priority Precincts to please step up and provide urgent and immediate support and information for the businesses and employees at Docklands Central Pier.

Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Adjournment matter raised 31/10/19

Answer

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (20:08:44):

My adjournment matter tonight is directed to the Minister for Education and concerns the group Body Safety Australia.

The action I seek is for the minister to increase funding to the program so it can be extended to regional areas. Body Safety Australia is a social enterprise that protects children from sexual abuse.

The group uses evidence-based strategies to provide age-appropriate sexual abuse prevention education to students, parents and teachers.

It is worth noting some facts about child sexual abuse. One in five children will experience childhood sexual abuse. On average children need to disclose five times before they are believed. Twenty-four per cent of female survivors were first abused by six years of age. Eighty-nine per cent of those cases will be perpetrated by a known offender. The internet is increasingly being used by predators to groom children.

The programs Body Safety Australia deliver complement the current Respectful Relationships curriculum and Child Safe Standards, and are provided to communities regardless of socio-economic status, religion, abilities, sexuality and/or family structure.

They have specialised knowledge and experience in orthodox and faith-based schools, special schools, LGBTIQ communities and people with different abilities, as well as people with different languages I understand that CEO Deanne Carson has been unsuccessful in seeking meetings with the education minister to discuss extending their funding to ensure that they can deliver their important programs to rural and regional areas.

I ask the education minister to provide ongoing funding to Body Safety, so that communities in regional areas can benefit from these vitally important programs.

Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Adjournment debate 18/10/19

Answer

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:07:21):

My adjournment matter today is for the Premier, and it concerns further allegations—even more allegations—of illegal behaviour at Crown Casino.

These allegations have been made by former staff and whistleblowers within the regulator, the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.

The action I seek is for the Premier to urgently establish an inquiry to investigate these allegations and the many others that have come before.

On Monday I joined federal independent MP Andrew Wilkie in Canberra as we released video testimony from a former Crown employee detailing instances where he had witnessed activity such as the abuse of women, the transport of illegal drugs, the flouting of customs laws and more.

Today Mr Wilkie called for a federal royal commission, which was voted down by the major parties, who do not want to face this issue. Today documents and video leaked by whistleblowers from the casino regulator itself showed large amounts of money being laundered over the counter at the casino.

Crown can continue to say, ‘Nothing to see here’, but this is footage from their own cameras. They say that they are scrupulous and have a strong record of compliance, that we should not believe our own eyes and that we should take their word that it is all ‘fake news’.

Well, in that case they should welcome an inquiry to clear their name. The biggest travesty in all of this is that the public is not surprised by this behaviour at all. They just figure Crown is a mecca for illegal activity and nothing will be done because ex-politicians are on Crown’s payroll, they are on the board and they are their lobbyists, and the business simply pumps too much into our economy.

Well, they should be shocked, and they should be outraged. They should expect more from us. I ask the Premier: when is enough enough? When will this government act on what are clear breaches of our laws? This Parliament needs to restore some public faith in our systems, in our Parliament. So I am asking that the Premier acts.

This government must establish an inquiry into Crown to shine a light on what we have seen to date and whether this is, as one of the whistleblowers said, ‘just the tip of the iceberg’.

Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Adjournment debate 15/10/19

Answer

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:03:18):

My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence. It could have been equally directed to the Minister for Crime Prevention or the Minister for Mental Health as it relates to the Jesuit Social Services Men’s Project and the response to recommendations from the family violence royal commission.

The Jesuit Social Services’ Men’s Project has, not surprisingly to anyone, recognised and identified that we have a problem, and we have a problem with our men and boys. It is not all of them by any means, but nine out of 10 of our prisoners are male; on average, every 4 hours a male commits suicide; and 95 per cent of victims of violence experience that from a male perpetrator.

But, most importantly, these issues are completely connected to men’s attitudes to masculinity. This men’s project did a very interesting report into this. They basically found that men in the ‘man box’, and this actually accounts for 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the people that they surveyed—who agree or agree strongly that men should act tough, figure out their personal problems themselves and use aggression to get respect; that a man should never say no to sex; and that men should bring home the money, not women—are far more likely to perpetrate bullying, be involved in traffic accidents, perpetrate physical violence or sexual harassment and, given that it is World Suicide Prevention Day, have suicidal ideation.

When they looked at these men, 75 per cent of them were having suicidal ideation or suicidal thoughts. What Jesuit Social Services are asking for is a solution to this, and the solution to male suicide is to address masculinity attitudes.

The action tonight that I seek tonight is that the government explicitly recognise the influence that men’s attitudes towards masculinity can have on family violence and that the minister, in acting on the recommendations of the Men’s Project, develop a coordinated response to adolescent family violence pursuant to recommendations 123 to 128 of the royal commission.

Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Adjournment matter raised 10/9/19

Answer

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (17:58:40):

My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Planning. There is a 91-year-old signal box near Coburg train station—it is on Munro Street—and it is set to be demolished to make way for sky rail. It was built in 1928; in fact it replaced an earlier box that was built there in 1892—127 years ago.

The Level Crossing Removal Project team has applied to Heritage Victoria to demolish the box, which has an interim protection order, and claims that building around the box would set the project back up to $10 million—a figure I just do not buy. It is overinflated.

For the record, I support the level crossing removals and even the sky rail projects in my electorate of Northern Metro, and I recently met with the team doing the planning for the Upfield line.

I have also met with residents concerned about what the end result would be. I was told directly by the level crossing removals team that community groups would have an opportunity for further input before final plans were released. So I was pretty disappointed and surprised to see the flashy videos online and design drawings in the Age.

It does not seem that community groups were further consulted, which is absolutely unacceptable. Now, a century-old railway signal box may not seem like paradise to most people, and we can pave over it and put up a parking lot, but remember, ‘Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’.

The action I seek is for the minister to review the heritage implications of allowing the demolition of the Munro Street signal box, to meet with community groups lobbying for more input along the Upfield line and to find a way to keep this valuable part of Coburg’s rich history.

Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Adjournment matter raised 28/8/19

Answer

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:10:44):

My adjournment matter today is for the Minister for Mental Health, and the action I seek is for the minister to immediately introduce a hydromorphone trial as part of the medically supervised injecting centre.

Part of this is that I just want to read the following poem, which was written by a user of the MSIC who recently died.

His grief-stricken father, who would rather not be named here today, wrote to me to thank me and colleagues across the Parliament for supporting the injecting room—and to support a hydromorphone trial.

There is a great place us outcast drug users can go,

Where we can come to safely use our show.

A safe room to keep us alive,

And I want to share how much it means to me and everyone should know.

All are allowed young, mature and old,

As for dedication for my safety, the injecting room is sold.

Carefully the staff are there so we can safely inject,

Friendly without judgement for it’s our lives they protect.

Making sure if need be reversing an overdose effect.

All times friendly and helpful, they truly make an effort to connect.

Those who work here are surely worth much more than their weight in gold.

I feel warmly treated like family, the reception is never cold.

Now, three times they have saved my life, if not for this place I’d be in great strife.

So us users who tend to walk on the edge of a knife,

I advise you an OD never needs to end a life.

My admiration and respect for this caring crew I cannot portray in words,

More positive recognition each one deserves.

Sadly, this person could not use the centre at a time when it was shut, and he died. Marginalised heroin users spend most of their time trying to acquire heroin and the money to pay for it. In desperation, they turn to crime and they turn to drug trafficking. It is maintenance therapy, and it is chaotic.

If we had a hydromorphone trial, we would be able to improve the amenity of the area, reduce crime in the area, save people’s lives and move them onto a better path. So I seek the minister’s support for that.

Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Adjournment matter raised 15/8/19

Answer

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:30): My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Mental Health, Mr Foley, and the action I am seeking is for the minister to get in touch with the UK Parliament’s ‘minister for loneliness’ and consider developing a Victorian strategy for tackling loneliness. I have to say last week—in fact probably just the other day—I was in London and I met with the inaugural minister, Tracey Crouch, and spoke to her about how they had developed this strategy and what the basis was for it.

Loneliness really is a significant issue, not just in the UK but here as well. In fact Harvard University equates the health impact of loneliness with smoking 15 cigarettes a day—so a half-a-pack-a-day smoker. It is also linked to obesity. We know that people who are lonely turn up at emergency departments far more often than anyone else. So they have developed a strategy called A Connected Society: A Strategy for Tackling Loneliness—Laying the Foundations for Change, and it really is a brilliant cross-government strategy.

We know that society is changing and we live and work in very different ways. Employment practices have changed. We are living longer but not necessarily better. We may be working from long distances, we may have to move for our work, so we are finding that social isolation is an emerging issue, and in the UK they say somewhere around 18 per cent of people in the UK experience loneliness at some stage of their life, and I think the figure would be very similar in Victoria. As I mentioned, it is linked to obesity, coronary heart disease and stroke, and it is a precursor to depression, cognitive decline and an increase in Alzheimer’s, so it is a significant issue.

In the UK all ministers have had loneliness added to their portfolio. They are developing a measurement for loneliness. They are looking at how we plan cities, how we do new suburban planning, how we do housing, how we do transport. Even on the PBS they are doing social prescribing, so rather than prescribing a happy pill they are prescribing a whole range of different activities or volunteering.

I think this is a really good idea and I think it works alongside the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. We do not need to wait until that commission is finished. So, as I said, I would please ask the minister to reach out to Minister Davies in the UK and also look to develop a strategy for loneliness in Victoria.

Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Adjournment matter raised 19/6/19

MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (19:27:02):

My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, and the action I am seeking is for the minister to investigate having a greater presence of Indigenous culture at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport.

Like many others, we travel in and out of that airport; we come through it hundreds of times. We know that literally millions of people visit our airport every year and hundreds of thousands visit every week.

But I have noticed as I have been coming in that there really is not a mark of our Indigenous culture at our airport. There might be a small Wominjeka sign, but most of it is filled with Chanel and George Clooney—I do not mind George Clooney, but it is very international. There is nothing particularly Victorian and particularly nothing for our First Nations people.

I am sure many of you have visited Auckland airport, Wellington airport, Vancouver airport, Toronto airport where there is a strong presence and a strong recognition that those are the lands of their First Nations.

I think that when tourists visit our country and when tourists visit our city they should understand that. We should have our First Nations people front and centre when people come to visit and land at our airports. We know that our Indigenous culture is a major tourist draw card to this nation and this state.

The action I am seeking from the minister is to review the welcome signage that we see at Tullamarine airport and other tourist information outlets at Melbourne’s main airport and to let me know how we can further emphasise our Indigenous culture on arrival to Melbourne.

Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Adjournment matter raised 6/6/19

MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (16:32:30):

My adjournment matter today is for the Minister for Crime Prevention, and the action I am seeking is a meeting with the minister, me and the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority.

This is about a wonderful, innovative, new piece of technology that has recently been developed by Magistrate John O’Callaghan. He calls it the Triple 0 app; I would like to call it the O’Callaghan plan.

Essentially it is a mobile phone app that when activated will allow video and audio from your phone to go straight to 000. In other words, virtually every Victorian will have a CCTV camera in their pocket or handbag. You can imagine the possibilities of that.

If someone is being pursued or if someone at a fire or if someone is at an emergency, they can activate this app and the 000 operators will have visual access to the incident as well as being able to speak to the people there and be able to triangulate and pinpoint the person’s location.

There would also be the possibility of a blue light coming on so if a woman was being pursued, she could put the app on. This blue light would flash and you would have the operator from 000 saying, ‘Mate, back off. I know who you are. I’ve got a photo of you’.

It would actually act as a great deterrent to crime. In a week when many of us are thinking about the tragic death of Courtney Herron, we owe it to her to think of ways that we can prevent crime and we can prevent these tragedies.

As I say, the action I seek and I hope will happen is for the crime prevention minister to meet with me and the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority to see how we can really move forward with this very innovative idea from Magistrate O’Callaghan.

Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Adjournment matter 30/5/2019