Fiona Patten joined Bernie Finn for a new segment on 3AW Mornings, called The Odd Couple.

CLICK PLAY BELOW TO LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten is driving prison reform in Victoria.

She told Neil Mitchell the state should be focusing on a rehabilitation-focus approach, for some offences, rather than jail.

“It wouldn’t be sexual offences, it wouldn’t be violent offences,” Ms Patten told Neil Mitchell.

“What we want is a safer community and what we are doing now is not achieving that.”

She said Victoria should not be building more prisons.

“If we keep going at this rate, we are looking at spending billions and billions and billions of dollars on prisons,” she said.

The Reason Party leader, who has been an advocate for the supervised drug injecting facility at North Richmond, also addressed the “frightening” discovery of a bag of heroin with a street value of over $5000.

“I’m grateful somebody found it before somebody was hurt,” she said.

Press PLAY below to hear Fiona Patten speak with Neil Mitchell

The Victorian government says it will select a group of experts to provide advice on a possible trial to change how illicit drug users are policed.

Callum Godde | AAP

An expert group will consider a possible trial to change how illicit drug use is policed in Victoria, despite the state government rejecting a decriminalisation push.

Reason Party Leader Fiona Patten introduced a bill late last month to decriminalise illicit drug use and possession, shifting the focus from punishment to treatment.

Under her proposal, police would issue a mandatory notice and referral of drug education or treatment to those found to have used or possessed an illicit drug.

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“This bill starts that conversation around treating the use of drugs differently – seeing it as a health issue, not one that should be stigmatised or criminalised,” she (Patten) said in a video posted to her social media account.

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The Victorian government appears to be considering a trial of drug decriminalisation, despite voting down the legislation put forward by the Reason Party.

The government will establish a working group to determine the next steps on how to help, rather than jail, people caught with small amounts of illicit drugs.

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten told Neil Mitchell it wasn’t decriminalisation but it’s a step in the right direction, nonetheless.

“It is a health issue,” she said.

“What we are doing at the moment is not working.”

Press PLAY below to hear Fiona Patten speak with Neil Mitchell

Fiona speaks with Raf about the government’s announcement to form a working group with police, addiction specialists and youth workers to advise the government on infringement trial options.

Click PLAY below to listen to the conversation.

By Josh Gordon

The Andrews government will set up an expert panel to consider a trial under which people caught with small quantities of drugs would automatically be issued a notice by police referring them to education or treatment.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Jaclyn Symes told Parliament that the government was not going to decriminalise drugs, but would instead look at bolstering the use of diversions and infringement notices under existing laws.

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On Wednesday, Ms Patten said she was taking the announcement of the trial as a step forward for drug law reform.

“For some reason, drug law reform is so difficult in Australia,” Ms Patten told ABC radio. “To get the government to the table to say they will bring health experts with police to look at other options to incarceration, to criminalisation, I have to take that as a positive step.”

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By Dan Lubman

The global “War on Drugs” is one of the single-most catastrophic public policy failures in history. Now one Victorian MP has put forward a bill to decriminalise the personal possession and use of prohibited drugs.

The private member’s bill doesn’t have the support of the government or opposition, so it’s highly likely to fail, but it’s started an important conversation about how our drug laws are harming people, and how we can improve them.

The whole point of prohibition was to reduce drug use and drug-related harms. Not only has it failed to do so, it’s had the opposite effect.

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Drive with Tom Elliott

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten has joined Tom Elliott to discuss drug decriminalisation legislation she will introduce to the Victorian parliament on Wednesday.

Under the proposed laws, Victoria police would issue mandatory referrals to drug rehab or education centres to people who have used or possesed with a drug of dependence

Ms Patten says the aim of the bill is to treat drug use as a health issue.

“Rather than putting people who are using drugs through the criminal process, we’ve got to put them through the health process,” she said on 3AW Drive.

“And look, this happens a lot already; the police have cannabis cautioning, they have different forms of diversion, but it doesn’t happen all the time.

“It’s hit and miss, and it costs a fortune, and it costs a lot of police time.

“So we’re saying listen, lets do it across the board, lets make this equitable, and lets give people the help they need, or the education they need.”

Ms Patten said the private members bill has “some support” from the government.

Press PLAY to hear the full interview below 

Reason Party Leader Fiona Patten says her push to decriminalise all illicit drugs in Victoria “isn’t radical”, with claims it won’t increase substance abuse in society.