By Greg Barns
Picture: Luke Bowden

EVERY day in South Australia’s courts there is injustice occurring. Drivers using cannabis, approved by their doctor for medicinal purposes,
are finding themselves convicted of drug-driving offences and losing their licence for three months and longer as well as being hit with a fine.
If that same driver was using opioid or other pharmaceutical painkillers they would not be in court.

There is a chance to remedy this patently unfair situation through a Bill being introduced into state parliament this week by Greens MP Tammy Franks…

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This Bill is not the first in Australia. In Victoria, independent MP Fiona Patten, of the Reason Party, has introduced a similar Bill. Premier Daniel
Andrews’ Labor government has said it will support finding a way to stop penalising medicinal cannabis patients.

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Access the full article on the Advertiser’s website.

Interview with Fiona Patten, Reason Party. Patten discusses the upcoming debate on the change to suppression conversion practices prohibition bill.

She reiterates that the bill will not deter people from practising their religious faith and will instead prevent them from causing harm.

Click PLAY below to listen to the whole conversation.

by STEVE JONES

South Australia has become the latest state to explore cannabis driving law reform with Greens upper house MP Tammy Franks taking up the crusade in collaboration with lobby group Drive Change.

Franks introduced a bill in parliament yesterday that will seek to lift the legal threat that hangs over patients holding medicinal cannabis prescriptions.

The bill is similar to the one drawn up by Reason Party leader Fiona Patten in Victoria.

Franks said she has been in touch with Patten with the two politicians “actively collaborating to share insights from each jurisdiction as part of this important proposed law reform”.

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Read the full article on Cannabiz’s website.

By Aslan Shand

MardiGrass2021 is going ahead and ‘We’re planning it like there’s no Corona but who knows what will be going on with COVID by the first weekend in May,’ said MardiGrass Organising Body (MOB) president, Michael Balderstone.

‘It could be jabs all round or rampant corona so obviously we have to wait ‘n see. ‘

The first meeting to organise the event was recently held in the HEMP Bar in Nimbin with a meeting with the police to discuss the event on 27 January.

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Fiona Patten is coming to MardiGrass and by then she might have the Victorian driving laws changed for legal cannabis users which would be a start at least. Ex Magistrate David Heilpern and solicitor Steve Bolt will join Fiona for a Q and A on drug driving.

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Read the full article on Echo’s website.

By Michael Fowler

The Andrews government’s push to extend its state of emergency powers for nine months is doomed in its current form after key crossbencher Fiona Patten said she would vote against it.

The state of emergency is due to expire next month but Premier Daniel Andrews announced on Tuesday morning his government would introduce a bill to extend it to December…

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Ms Patten, the Reason Party upper house MP who voted with two other crossbenchers in favour of extending the powers in September, said she was firmly against the latest proposal and called instead for coronavirus-specific laws.

“I was very clear last year that I would allow for a six-month extension. But in that time, I wanted to see the government develop COVID-specific regulations to keep us safe and keep us open,” she said.

“We cannot go another 12 months living in a so-called state of emergency. That is not normal life. So at this stage, I can’t support the bill.”

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Read the full article on The Age’s website.

RACHEL BAXENDALE | The Australian
VICTORIAN POLITICAL REPORTER @rachelbaxendale

Picture: David Crosling

The Andrews government faces an uphill battle to pass legislation that would see its coronavirus “state of emergency” powers extended for nine months until December, after key upper house crossbencher Fiona Patten said she would not support it.

The government secured its last state of emergency extension in September only after it reduced the time from 12 to six months and persuaded Greens leader Samantha Ratnam to return to parliament from mat­ernity leave to vote with Ms Patten and the Animal Justice Party’s Andy Meddick in favour of the legislation.

On Tuesday, Ms Patten indicated her support for the latest bill might be more difficult to secure, saying she wanted to see “COVID-specific” legislation, rather than a blanket granting of ongoing emergency powers.

“Come December this year, we’re still going to need to quarantine people coming from overseas, we’re still going to need to ask people to self-isolate after they’ve had a test. This is not going to end at the end of this year, so what will we do? Go back and extend the state of emergency? No,” the Reason Party leader said.

“We understand the government needs to have powers to provide some restrictions, but to do it in a heightened state of emergency is not the answer.”

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Access the full article on The Australian’s website.

By Ben Schneiders, Sumeyya Ilanbey and Royce Millar

Controversial “preference whisperer” Glenn Druery faces new probity concerns after landing a taxpayer-funded role working for state upper house Liberal Democrats MP David Limbrick while running his own lucrative cash-for-votes business.

Mr Druery’s business brings micro parties together in a bloc to preference each other and leapfrog better-supported parties. The practice helped Mr Limbrick get elected at the 2018 poll with just 0.8 per cent of the primary vote…

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Reason Party leader Fiona Patten said Mr Limbrick’s hiring of Mr Druery “doesn’t pass the pub test”.

“We know Mr Druery is running a business that makes its profit from preference dealing. So it does seem strange for him to be employed directly by one crossbencher,” she said on Tuesday.

“I am not sure that the people of Victoria would be pleased to hear that a senior parliamentary adviser to a Victorian upper house MP is working from a yacht on Sydney Harbour.”

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Read the full article on The Age’s website.

By Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar

Photo by Andrew Meares

Controversial “preference whisperer” Glenn Druery charged taxpayers more than $150,000 in travel and other expenses while working as an adviser to then-senator Derryn Hinch, and also running a lucrative cash-for-votes business in state elections.

Travel expense records obtained by The Sunday Age after a two-year Freedom of Information battle reveal a dramatic hike in trips Mr Druery took to Melbourne in 2018 coinciding with the Victorian election, where he made hundreds of thousands of dollars helping micro parties win the balance of power in the state’s upper house…

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Meanwhile, Reason Party leader Fiona Patten has pushed for her own version of reform.

She and Mr Druery had worked together in the past but in 2018 the two fell out and Ms Patten lodged a formal complaint about him which Victoria Police followed up but then dropped.

At the time, Ms Patten said Mr Druery had asked her team for a $5000 upfront fee to join his family of minor parties and a success fee of $50,000 for each candidate elected.

In 2020 Ms Patten tabled her own bill aimed squarely at Mr Druery which would outlaw profiteering from elections. The bill has not yet been voted on.

Read the full article on The Age’s website.

By ALI CUPPER

VICTORIAN Parliament resumes for 2021 next week and it signifies a big year ahead for the Reason Coalition as we fight for significant policy, service and infrastructure needs for the Mildura electorate.

Our RateGate campaign pushing for permanent, structural reform to fix the rural-metro rates disparity remains a priority, with almost 800 people having signed our e-petition…

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During Reason Coalition leader Fiona Patten’s visit to the Mildura electorate last week, we met with several stakeholders where the dire need for a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre was laid bare.

We spoke to several people including two Indigenous elders who told us their painful personal stories of addiction and the life-changing impact and meaningful change that can come for the community from a dedicated rehabilitation centre.

Ms Patten will submit a motion in the Legislative Council next week calling on Minister for Health Martin Foley and Treasurer Tim Pallas to fund a 12-bed alcohol and drug rehabilitation service in Mildura in the 2021-22 Budget.

Read full article on the Sunraysia Daily’s website.

THE campaign to fix the rural rates divide is moving forward with high-profile local businessman and Mildura Rural City Councillor Stefano de Pieri appointed co-chair of the RateGate campaign.

The campaign, initiated by the Reason Coalition, is aiming to recruit rural and regional MPs, mayors, councillors, CEOs and other stakeholders from across the State. To assist this process, a draft resolution for Councils to adopt will be produced…

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Ms Cupper and Reason Coalition leader Fiona Patten took the RateGate campaign on the road throughout the Mildura electorate last week with a round of meetings with key stakeholders.

The petition can be found at www.parliament.vic.gov.au/council/petitions/electronic-petitions/view-e-petitions/details/12/303

Access the full article on Mildura Weekly’s website.