Removing barriers to Aboriginal employment
📷 L-R: Winda-Mara’s Michael Bell, Reason Party MP Fiona Patten, Woor-Dungin’s Naomi Murphy and CIJ’s Stan Winford
RMIT researchers have partnered with Aboriginal organisations on a new project to tackle barriers to employment for Aboriginal people.
Building on earlier successful work addressing this issue, the Rethinking Criminal Records project will educate employers and job seekers about their rights and obligations in disclosing criminal history.
The project has been given $300,000 by the Victorian Legal Services Board to enable project partners to work with Aboriginal job seekers in regional communities and across the state once COVID-19 restrictions lift.
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Read full article on RMIT.
Hack Triple j: Sex work in a pandemic
With strip clubs and brothels forced to remain closed through all three stages of the government’s roadmap to recovery, sex workers are having to find new ways to serve their clientele to earn a living. Interview with Fiona Patten 26/5/20.
VICTORIA ESTABLISHES INQUIRY INTO CANNABIS USE
By SHIBU THOMAS
Do you have an opinion about the use of cannabis in Victoria? Now is the time to have your say!
The Legal and Social Issues committee of the Victorian Legislative Council has set up an inquiry into the use of Cannabis and is inviting suggestions from the public.
“We want to hear from community members about the current restrictions on the use of cannabis in Victoria and whether these are appropriate,” said Committee Chair Fiona Patten in a statement.
“We’re interested in hearing people’s views on whether the use of cannabis should remain legal for medical treatment only or whether current restrictions on use of cannabis should be changed,” Patten said. “We are not alone in considering the impacts of cannabis on people who use it, and on their families and carers. It will be important for us to examine how these issues are being tackled in other countries so that we can learn from their experiences.”
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Read full article on Star Observer.
Cannabis Inquiry — submissions now open
The Legislative Council’s Legal and Social Issues Committee is inviting public submissions for its new inquiry into the use of cannabis in Victoria. As Committee Chair, I look forward to starting work on this.
The broad-ranging inquiry will examine access to and use of cannabis in Victoria, including ways to prevent children and young people accessing and using cannabis.
The Committee wants to hear from community members about the current restrictions on the use of cannabis in Victoria and whether these are appropriate.
We’re interested in hearing people’s views on whether use of cannabis should remain legal for medical treatment only or whether current restrictions on use of cannabis should be changed.
The Legislative Council’s Legal and Social Issues Committee is inviting public submissions for its new inquiry into the use of cannabis in Victoria. As Chair, I am very much looking forward to the community being involved in the conversation. More info at https://t.co/9IVHatdWGL pic.twitter.com/rVe0uhyyPn
— Fiona Patten MP (@FionaPattenMLC) May 18, 2020
An online submission form is available on the Committee’s website to make it easy for people to submit their views, and submissions can also be sent in by mail.
Under the inquiry’s terms of reference, the Committee will consider health education campaigns and programs that could be implemented to ensure young people are properly educated on the harms of cannabis use and drug use more broadly.
The Committee will examine models from international jurisdictions that have been successful in promoting public health and protecting public safety, including prevention of criminal activity, in relation to cannabis use.
We are not alone in considering the impacts of cannabis on people who use it, and on their families and carers. It will be important for us to examine how these issues are being tackled in other countries so that we can learn from their experiences.
At the same time, it’s crucial that our own community members have the opportunity to get involved with this conversation. That’s why I would encourage everyone with an interest in these issues to make a submission.
Public submissions are welcome until 31 August 2020.
3AW: Mornings with Neil Mitchell – 12/5/20
ABC Mornings with Virginia Trioli – 12/5/20
Trial Hydromorphone and Expand Injecting Centre Program says Patten MP
Leader of the Reason Party and Member for the Northern Metropolitan Region, Fiona Patten, has today called for a trial of hydromorphone for the states’ opioid users, arguing the coronavirus is leading to riskier drug use.
“We know the pandemic will affect the drug supply, but that doesn’t mean it will stop opioid addiction, people will start mixing a dangerous cocktail to get a similar high,” Ms Patten said.
Ms Patten has called for a hydromorphone trial, a drug which has proven to help chronic users break the drug-crime nexus .
A 2018 Canadian study found hydromorphone reduced mortality, increased quality of life, and saved the health system nearly $140,000 CAD per individual, when compared to methadone alone. The opioid, prescribed by a doctor, is injectable and has proven successful in reducing the use of all drugs and illegal activity.
“Results from Canada show it is more effective than methadone as an opioid replacement therapy,” Ms Patten said. “It breaks the link between addiction and crime for some of the most chronic users who have unsuccessfully tried all other treatments.
“We know it’s safer for users and society if people can access prescription medication alternatives to toxic street drugs. Hydromorphone can have the effect of refocusing chaotic lifestyles away from trying to score and onto things like finding work and reconnecting with family. At the same time it has reduced the demand for heroin, meaning less local drug trafficking and a subsequent improved amenity.”
Ms Patten and The Reason Party were key in the establishment of the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in North Richmond, which has proven to be hugely successful in tackling the “war zone” like drug problem in the area. Over 2,500 potentially fatal overdoses have been managed by the centre in the past two years.
“The injecting centre works – it is saving lives,” said Ms Patten. “It has been a major harm reduction tool in tackling what was a health crisis on the streets of Richmond.
“I am calling on the state government to not only extend the two-year trial of the medically supervised injecting room in its current location, but to explore how we can expand its success to other areas of our state. We should consider what other sites might be suitable for similar facilities where the need is great.”
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To organise an interview with Fiona Patten, please phone Jorian directly.
Media Contact: Jorian Gardner
Phone: 0466 694 197
Patten calls for safe injecting room to prescribe powerful opioid
By Jewel Topsfield, 📷 by Wayne Taylor
One of the architects of the controversial safe injecting room has called for it to prescribe a pharmaceutical opioid to drug users to reduce the illicit heroin trade in North Richmond.
Reason Party leader Fiona Patten wants the state government to extend the two year trial of the medically supervised injecting room in its current location.
However she says it should be able to supply users with hydromorphone – an opioid used to treat pain – to “break the nexus between criminal activity and drug addiction”.
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Read full article on the Sydney Morning Herald.
Global Drug Report Shows Australian Drug Laws Are Killing People
Leader of the Reason Party and Member for the Northern Metropolitan, Fiona Patten, has welcomed the release of the Global Commission on Drug Policy’s 2020 report, Enforcement Of Drug Laws Refocusing On Organized Crime Elites.
The major report highlights how prohibition has weakened social structures in the community and entrenched power within criminal organisations. It paints a stark picture. In the last decade, hundreds of thousands of people have died as part of the collateral damage of government-enforced prohibition. The deaths represent the price that must be paid for a drug policy that has simply enriched and empowered criminal groups and fuelled corruption and money laundering.
“The war on drugs isn’t working. The report shows that in fact its making everything worse”, Ms Patten said.
“Crackdowns by law enforcement only brings new players into the market and makes illicit drugs even more dangerous. The only plan that our leaders and agencies seem to have is to spend more money on policing and arresting more people in the hope that this will reduce drug consumption and weaken criminal organisations. This report clearly shows that this is simply not happening and has never worked in the past.”
“If Covid has taught us anything it is to listen to experts and avoid politicising a public health issue. This is a report from some of the most eminent people in the world, including former world leaders. Australian governments should be paying attention to this now.”
Illegal drug markets provide an immense source of power and revenue for organised criminal groups. That has remained the case despite the vast investment of political, financial, social, and military capital into the global ‘war on drugs’. Far from curtailing drug markets, they are expanding in scale and complexity worldwide. Repressive criminal justice and military responses to drug trafficking have exacerbated the already profound impacts of drug-related organised crime. The report outlines prolific violence in certain states, increased corruption and the undermining of political and economic stability.
“This tenth report by the Global Commission highlights the need for a coordinated response to transnational organised crime syndicates as it relates to drug markets and bold drug policies,” said Ms Patten.
“If governments are serious about reducing the harms of drugs then they must act on all five of the report’s recommendations. This will not only save Australian lives but help save of the lives of thousands of people globally.”
You can access a copy of the report here.
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To organise an interview with Fiona Patten, please phone Jorian directly.
Media Contact: Jorian Gardner
Phone: 0466 694 197
