Leader of the Reason Party and Member for Northern Metropolitan, Fiona Patten, has joined with other organisations around Australia in an effort to halt the vote on a proposed ban on vaping in parts of the CBD of Melbourne, saying that Melbourne City Councilors have simply not been given the right information.

“Vaping isn’t smoking,” said Ms Patten. “I am concerned that the Council has been misinformed on the issue and that a ban will do more harm than good.”

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, and The Royal Australasian College of Physicians now all support vaping as an option for quitting smoking.

“There is no reasonable case for banning vaping on health grounds as there is no evidence of risk from passive vaping. The UK Royal College of Physicians, who have been a leader in research on this issue, agreed declaring that so far there is, ‘no direct evidence that passive exposure is likely to cause significant harm’.

Ms Patten said that was backed up by the 2018 Public Health England report that found “to date there have been no identified health risks of passive vaping to bystanders”.

Associate Professor Colin Mendelsohn from the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association and School of Public Health and Community Medicine at University of New South Wales, has also written to councilors asking them to postpone the decision until they armed with all the facts.

“Smoking remains a high public health priority and is the leading preventable cause of death in Australia,” said Associate Professor Colin Mendelsohn. “All methods to help smokers to quit should be encouraged.  Banning vaping in smoke-free areas sends a message that vaping is as harmful as smoking and will discourage smokers from switching to vaping.”

“Council needs to listen to what the experts are saying – that vaping is a significant help for those trying to quit,” said Ms Patten.

It is understood several health advocates have made submissions to council urging them to reconsider the vaping ban. A vote is due on Tuesday May 5.

– Ends –

To organise an interview with Fiona Patten, please phone Jorian directly.

Media Contact: Jorian Gardner

Phone: 0466 694 197

Email: jorian.gardner@parliament.vic.gov.au

Leader of the Reason Party and Member for Northern Metropolitan, Fiona Patten, has joined with other organisations around Australia in an effort to halt the vote on a proposed ban on vaping in parts of the CBD of Melbourne, saying that Melbourne City Councillors have simply not been given the right information.

“Vaping isn’t smoking,” said Ms Patten. “I am concerned that the Council has been misinformed on the issue and that a ban will do more harm than good.”

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, and The Royal Australasian College of Physicians now all support vaping as an option for quitting smoking.

“There is no reasonable case for banning vaping on health grounds as there is no evidence of risk from passive vaping. The UK Royal College of Physicians, who have been a leader in research on this issue, agreed declaring that so far there is, ‘no direct evidence that passive exposure is likely to cause significant harm’.

Ms Patten said that was backed up by the 2018 Public Health England report that found “to date there have been no identified health risks of passive vaping to bystanders”.

Associate Professor Colin Mendelsohn from the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association and School of Public Health and Community Medicine at University of New South Wales, has also written to councilors asking them to postpone the decision until they armed with all the facts.

“Smoking remains a high public health priority and is the leading preventable cause of death in Australia,” said Associate Professor Colin Mendelsohn. “All methods to help smokers to quit should be encouraged.  Banning vaping in smoke-free areas sends a message that vaping is as harmful as smoking and will discourage smokers from switching to vaping.”

“Council needs to listen to what the experts are saying – that vaping is a significant help for those trying to quit,” said Ms Patten.

It is understood several health advocates have made submissions to council urging them to reconsider the vaping ban. A vote is due on Tuesday May 5.

Matt Johnston and James Campbell, Sunday Herald Sun

An Australian Army veteran who claims medicinal cannabis has played a vital role in his battle against PTSD has made an emotional plea to the federal government to try and change their policy on the drug.

An Australian Army veteran battling post-traumatic stress disorder has called for the federal government to subsidise medicinal cannabis, which he says has turned his condition around.

David Hill, who was on two tours of Afghanistan, in 2012 and 2015, said other drugs prescribed to manage his illness had worked like a “chemical lobotomy”…

…

Reason Party leader and state MP Fiona Patten has taken up the cause, saying the state government could step in if the federal government ­refused.

“It is reprehensible that we would send our veterans out onto the black market, that we would force them to break the law to stay alive,” she said.

“We provide them with the equipment they need when they are on the frontline and we must do the same when they return.”

Read full article on the Herald Sun.

JACK NEEDHAM

A member of Victoria’s upper house is lobbying for commercial tenants, who have limited prospects of reopening for business after the pandemic has passed, to seek early termination of their leases.

This comes a week after similar legislation in Western Australia was put on the back burner following intense opposition from the property industry.

Fiona Patten, a Victorian upper house MP and leader of the Reason Party, said draft copies of Victoria’s rental relief legislation failed to allow businesses that were unlikely to reopening post-pandemic from terminating their lease.

“I think that’s an oversight in many ways because there’s a lot of commercial, small businesses that did it very tough over summer with the fires, and now with COVID-19 on top they are not going back [to operating] and they need to have some assistance in terminating their businesses,” she said…

…

Read full article on Commercial Real Estate.

Christie Eliezer Contributing Editor The Music Network

Melbourne venue operators will put their case to parliament on Thursday for financial survival.

Senator Fiona Patten of the Reason Party will table a Change.org petition that was set up when the city’s music spaces went into lockdown in March.

It was written by Guy Palermo, owner of 300-capacity venue The Bendigo Hotel in Collingwood.

…

Read full article on The Music Network.

Save Live Music Venues, Plan for the Future, says Reason

Member for Northern Metropolitan and Leader of the Reason Party, Fiona Patten has today called on the Victorian Government to put its shoulder to the wheel and save Victoria’s creative industries – before a bad situation gets worse.

“Creative industries bring in $23 billion to the Victorian economy, and employ 220,000 Victorians, the arts are a life support for many and need government backing now,” said Ms Patten.

Ms Patten’s plan calls for a number of policy initiatives to ensure that jobs are preserved in the creative sector in Victoria.

“We need to introduce a moratorium on immediate costs faced by performance venues, “ said Ms Patten.

“As well, a 2 year ban on planning applications to change the use of a live music venue.”

Ms Patten said a taskforce that plans and develops Victoria’s cultural activities in a post lock down but pre-international travel world would be appropriate so as to identifying changes the industry would need to survive purely on domestic tourists as an audience.

The Creative Spaces programme provides artists with studios to create in, if the policy was expanded, more Victorian artists would be able to create art affordably.

“Minister for Creative Arts, Martin Foley needs expand the Creative Spaces programme – and do so as a matter of urgency,” said Ms Patten.

“I have today written to him on this and a range of other suggestions to help our important arts sector.”

Patrick Donovan, CEO of Music Victoria, wrote in The Age last week, passionately advocating for the government to support live music venues.

“If they [live music venues] lose their liquor licenses and leases, it will be very hard to regain them, and we could become a ghost town,” said Mr Donovan.

“Throughout history, opportunistic carpet-baggers have moved in during times of crisis. Our venues and studios sit on sought-after high street real estate, and plenty of developers will be eyeing off some prized sites.”

“Industry and government need to work together to ensure we don’t lose more jobs, said the Northern Metro MP.  “No one knows when international travel will resume and we can’t plan for 2021 like it’s just another year.”

Ms Patten suggested that a task force should look at how Victoria could continue to produce world class music and cultural festivals, without the boon from overseas tourists and artists.

“We have to protect what we have and plan for future, supporting the arts should be high on the agenda for the Andrews Government” Ms Patten added.

– Ends –

SHIBU THOMAS

There was outrage in the community after the findings of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission’s (IBAC) investigation into the 2019 raid on iconic LGBTIQ bookstore Hares & Hyenas in Fitzroy were made public. Soon, support too poured in with some starting a trend on social media to with the hashtag #buyabook from Hares & Hyenas.

“I think it’s very sad for our society that police smashing a person to the ground and tearing their shoulder out of its socket is considered reasonable force. Please support Hares & Hyenas who are still suffering from this brutal invasion,” tweeted Fiona Patten MP, member of the Legislative Council in Victoria (Northern Metropolitan region).

…

Read full article on Star Observer.

Leader of the Reason Party and Victorian Legislative Council member for the Northern Metropolitan Region, Fiona Patten, joined Tom and Jess to discuss the lack of oversight on decisions made by the Government during this pandemic crisis and how we should have more control over laws passed.

Plus with the High Court decision to release Cardinal Pell, what does this mean for all victims of sexual abuse?

By Noel Towell, 📷: Nine

Victoria’s opposition and crossbench politicians are demanding to be allowed back into the state’s political process, saying the Andrews government is limiting personal freedoms in the COVID-19 crisis without democratic scrutiny.

Police have extraordinary powers to stop, fine and even detain Victorians while enforcing the shutdown regime, but State Parliament, the major check on the government, was sent home last month and it is unclear when it will return…

…

Reason Party MP Fiona Patten, whose office marshalled most of the usually fractious upper house crossbench to sign a joint appeal to the government to let Parliament play a role, said she was supportive of the efforts to “flatten the curve” but not without democratic oversight.

The Northern Metro MP, along with her fellow crossbenchers want a multi-party committee such as the one set up by the Federal Parliament with the agreement of the Morrison government, to act as a stopgap oversight body.

“Significant infringements on the civil liberties of all Victorians are occurring without the proper scrutiny of non-government members of the Parliament and that’s just not acceptable,” Ms Patten said.

Read full article on The Age.

By Jessica Longbottom, 📷: (AAP: Scott Barbour)

Victorian crossbenchers have called on the Government to immediately review some of the most draconian regulations put in place to suppress the spread of coronavirus, including directions prohibiting people sitting alone in public spaces and going fishing.

The Reason Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens said many of the restrictions around solitary activities, or activities conducted as a household that abided by social distancing, needed to be fine-tuned to make them sustainable for the long-term…

…

Fiona Patten, the leader of the Reason Party, said while the Government had been doing a good job at stopping the spread of COVID-19, common sense had to prevail around some of the more extreme measures that had been put in place.

“If someone is driving their car to put their baby to sleep, that should be OK,” Ms Patten said.

“If someone lives in a small apartment, with very little natural light, it should be OK for them to sit in a park and read a book.

“Those are the sorts of infringements on our civil liberties that we need to ensure do not continue.

Read full article on the ABC.