Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:35): My adjournment matter is for the Treasurer, and the action I am seeking, along with probably many of my colleagues here but also the community, is for the Victorian government to increase IBAC’s funding in the next budget, and the increase needs to be by at least $10 million a year. In 2018–19 IBAC’s funding increased by $1.5 million. Goodness gracious! That is an increase of about 2.5 per cent after inflation. Unfortunately corruption in our community is not increasing with inflation; it is far more exponential than that. We have heard Robert...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:15): My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Health, Mr Foley—and congratulations on his new appointment. The action I seek from the minister is to amend the maternal and child health program standards to remove the requirement for nurses—this is, child health nurses and adolescent health nurses—to be midwives. While I can understand the good intentions, it is creating real barriers for perfectly capable nurses fulfilling those roles that they are more than capable of completing. One nurse who wrote to me said this rationale is completely flawed. Yes, midwives will...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan)

My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Mental Health, Mr Foley, and the action I seek is for him to urgently review the amount of rehabilitation beds available to Victorians and commit to ensuring that more beds are brought into the system as soon as is possible.

Victoria’s specialist alcohol and other drug treatment services are overwhelmed.

Forty thousand Victorians currently access treatment services each year, yet there are almost that many waiting for a place.

And whilst...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan): My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, and the action I seek is that the government review the Retail Leases Act 2003 in consultation with small business tenants and their landlords to find equitable ways for businesses affected by COVID-19 to terminate or renegotiate leases.

My office has been inundated with calls and emails for help from small business owners throughout my electorate. They have been thankful for the government grants and the instructions to landlords to waiver and defer...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan): My adjournment matter tonight is directed to the Attorney-General and regards justices of the peace and bail justices.

The services JPs provide on a volunteer basis are incredibly important to the community, and we must ensure these services continue to be available during this time.

From what I understand, the Royal Victorian Association of Honorary Justices, the Law Institute of Victoria and the Department of Justice and Community Safety have been working together to provide appropriate guidelines and keep JPs well informed during the pandemic.

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan): My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and the action I seek is for the minister to meet with the Inner North Community Foundation to discuss the open space activation fund.

President, when times are tough, communities in the north come together.

The Inner North Community Foundation is an independent charity and grant maker for Melbourne’s north, covering the communities of Yarra, Darebin and Moreland, and I have mentioned them numerous times in this place.

Their fantastic work in...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (22:30): My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Creative Industries, and the action I seek is for him to approve the Save our Scene proposal to rescue live music by providing a fund to support the relaunching of the industry when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. The proposal is simple: it is to implement a live music support package, which would include a needs-based financial assistance program to support small- to medium-size enterprise music venues until they are able to trade sustainably and to put in place a clear and balanced road...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (23:34): My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, and the action I am seeking is for her to instruct Victoria Police to immediately introduce a racial profile monitoring system.

We know that it has been three years since Victoria Police stated that they would introduce a monitoring system to check the level of racial profiling in police activities, but they have not. The research points to the fact that they are stopping people because of the colour of their skin, and we know...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:28): My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Housing, and I am seeking a meeting between him, me, Housing All Australians and Quest Apartments. With the growing number of families that we are seeing at risk of homelessness as a result of COVID, Housing All Australians, Quest Apartments and the Salvation Army have joined forces to provide temporary accommodation for those at risk of homelessness or who are experiencing it. It has been great seeing Quest Apartments providing the Salvation Army with temporary accommodation at a break-even rate—there is...

  Ms Patten: My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Higher Education in this place and the action I seek is for the Minster to investigate the state government support options for international students. The international education sector has warned that Australia is putting at risk one of its largest industries if it does not do more to help foreign students through the Covid19 crisis. The International Education Association of Australia has called for a hardship fund for foreign students, many who have lost their jobs as the pandemic ravages the retail and hospitality sectors. Given the industry is worth 39 billion...