By Patrick Hatch

The Andrews government is facing calls to step in and stop Crown Resorts from claiming up to $200 million in compensation if the findings of the state’s royal commission result in changes to how its Melbourne casino can operate.

With the inquiry focused on the extent of the gambling harm carried out Crown’s Melbourne casino, commissioner Ray Finkelstein has raised grave concerns about the manner in which the company deals with gambling addiction…

…

Reason Party leader and Upper House MP Fiona Patten said the state parliament should move to amend the legislation to void the compensation clause.

“If Crown has behaved in manner that is in direct contravention of their casino licence… then they shouldn’t be eligible for a single cent in compensation under this agreement,” she said.

“It would take a lot of chutzpah, I would think, for Crown management to even contemplate attempting to even bring it up given the current situation they find themselves in.”

…

Read the full article on The Age’s website.

Ellen Ebsary

By Fiona Patten

Most of my critics around sex work have never been sex workers. That is not to say that the observations of the sex industry by academics, politicians, NGOs or police are not valid in shaping public policy around it. It’s just that they don’t have a lived experience of being a sex worker, which means they can never understand the awful discrimination and the highly secretive and selective nature of the problems that sex workers face every day.

That is why I sought out the opinions of as many sex worker groups and sex workers as I could during the course of the inquiry that the government had tasked me to run, so I could arrive at the best way of decriminalising sex work in Victoria. If you do not listen to the views and the ideas of the people who are at the heart of any industry, i.e. those doing the work, you are wasting your time.

A study conducted in NSW among migrant sex workers in what they describe as low-end brothels recommended that to assist these workers we must advocate to breakdown stereotypes and stigma. That we must ramp up education about the sex industry among the general public to reduce and ultimately remove stigma and feelings of isolation for these women.

Many of those who state that they are concerned for sex workers are actually further stigmatising and stereotyping sex workers by deliberately reinforcing negative attitudes of workers with no agency and no options. This harms sex workers and reinforces social stigma and discrimination. They advocate for something called “asymmetric decriminalisation” which basically means sex workers would not be criminalised, but their clients would. It makes no sense, and where it has been implemented it hasn’t worked to end the industry or make anyone safer.

Sex workers don’t want an asymmetric system. They don’t want the industry banned in any way. They don’t want the over-regulated system that we have now. They simply want their workplace to be decriminalised, like the hairdresser next door to them or the doctor down the road. If they have trouble at work, they can call the police like anyone else, and they comply with all the same parking and zoning laws that their neighbours do.

I am proud of the progress made so far through effective and meaningful collaboration between government and the community. I thank all of the people who shared their lived experience and their knowledge. I particularly want to thank the industry and peer organisations working so hard to collect the views of colleagues which have been crucial to this report.

Decriminalisation will be a step towards addressing the stigma and discrimination experienced by sex workers and it will certainly make it a lot easier to fight.

Fiona Patten is the Member for Northern Metropolitan Region and leader of the Reason Party. She led the government’s recent review of sex work laws in Victoria.

By Erin Somerville and Charmayne Allison

The operation and effectiveness of Victoria’s criminal justice system will be examined as part of an inquiry that began today in north-east Victoria.

Victoria Parliament’s Legal and Social Issues Committee heard from six witnesses at the initial sitting in Wangaratta.

…

Committee chair and Reason Party MP Fiona Patten said Victoria’s prison population was growing while crime rates remained unchanged.

“Something’s not working and it would seem very clear that we should be doing things very differently.”

She said the inquiry was overdue and described parts of the criminal justice system as “archaic”.

“There is no-one in the system who doesn’t say that it could be improved, who doesn’t say that it could be changed.

“So I am confident that we will see change.”

Read the full article on the ABC’s website.

Regulating the sex industry via standard business laws will help make sex workers safer and reduce stigma, minister says

Calla Wahlquist

The Victorian government will move to decriminalise sex work and regulate the sex industry “through standard business industry laws” following a review that heard the current system left many unprotected.

The review was conducted by the Reason party leader, Fiona Patten, in 2020 and is currently before the state government. The government is expected to release the report and table proposed legislation by the end of the year.

The change would see Victoria join the Northern Territory and New South Wales as jurisdictions that have decriminalised sex work.

…

Patten said the review heard from sex workers who had been assaulted by clients because they were unable to work from a safe place.

“We heard experiences where hidden cameras were in the client’s home, where the client had other people in the home, where people did experience sexual violence because they couldn’t protect themselves because the law just did not allow them to do that,” she said.

The current law also made some people reluctant to call police if they had been sexually assaulted or blackmailed because they were operating outside the regulatory system.

Decriminalisation would “pour greater sunlight” on to harmful conduct within the industry while better protecting sex workers to operate safely, Patten said.

“You provide avenues for sex workers that may be feeling exploited in any way to come forward without fear of prosecution.”

…

Read full article on The Guardian’s website.

By Sumeyya Ilanbey

Victoria will join a growing list of jurisdictions in the world to decriminalise the sex industry if state MPs adopt recommendations aimed at safeguarding workers and reducing stigma.

Andrews government ministers are considering legislative reforms that Consumer Affairs Minister Melissa Horne said would protect sex workers.

MDMA could help to dramatically reduce the number of suicides among veterans. The Victorian Government is being urged to take the first step. Eddie Russell reports.

The Victorian Government is being urged to legalise the use of ecstasy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in returned soldiers.

Concerns have been raised over the mental health care of Australian Defence Force veterans that has led to an high rates of suicide.

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten raised the issue in state parliament last month, and said this week the matter needed to be addressed immediately.

Thirty-five clinical psychiatrists in Australia are now seeking to legally use MDMA, also known as ecstasy, for psychotherapy sessions, according to Ms Patten.

“We know that the levels of suicide in our returned servicemen are completely connected to PTSD and other severe mental health issues,” she said.

…

Read the full article on The Swin Standard’s website.

A revelation over a sandwich that was used to ruin a Melbourne food company will see a parliamentary inquiry into the controversy reopened.

Losing your driving licence for three months is a massive punishment, especially for country people. Incomparable to the cautions police give you for possession of up to fifteen grams of pot.

The drug driving rules were introduced to catch truckies on speed as I remember, but instead they’re catching tons of stoner dolphins in their shark nets. Did they know what they were doing, was this ever their intention? I’m never sure and want to believe we are nicer than that. And endlessly proved wrong!

Whichever way you look at it, they’ve stumbled onto a lethal weapon against potsmokers and the RDT highway patrol cars are using it to full advantage. Except their manual is way out of date. I’ve heard a number of stories about them chasing Kombi drivers at MardiGrass, frantically passing other cars to pull them over to test their saliva. Fact is 42 Kombis were in the Konvoy but most of them were $100,000 rigs bought cheap off hippies decades ago and now owned by wealthy collectors, who never smoke weed and maybe never did!  Funny.

They tested about 1500 people over the MardiGrass weekend for 29 positives. Doug was 2 of them. He smoked a joint Thursday night at home and tested positive driving into Nimbin Friday around midday. Didn’t smoke again and then driving in Sunday morning tested positive again, more than sixty hours later. No wonder people are so angry.

There may well be more busted because the third test in the lab, when they send your saliva away, pretty much catches everyone who’s had a toke in days perhaps, measuring down to 5 nanograms of thc, thats 5 parts per billion. No one seems to know exactly how long after a smoke until you have less than 5 nanograms in your saliva. And is it different for every body?

The only way I know to find out your reading is to plead not guilty, then they tell you how many nanograms you had in your spit sample. I had 1250 they said which was over an hour after a joint. 250 times over the limit! Would love to know the numbers and how long after using from anyone else who has plead not guilty. The cop who booked me agreed on court day I did not appear impaired. It’s my daily medicine, what I’m used to. I’m more likely impaired without it.

Anyway I digress, this is what is important. If you get busted for drug driving you will in all probability get a letter in the mail with an $1100 fine and asking you to surrender your licence for 3 months. Unless you were impaired I suggest you turn over the letter and take the option to appeal the conviction. You will then be sent a court appearance date and then you can state your case of why you use cannabis and that you were not impaired and hopefully the magistrate respects your choice of medicine and lets you keep driving, and gives you no fine, or at least much less that $1100. I’m sure it would help if you have been approved for legal weed.

I suggest you write a letter to the magistrate spelling out your circumstances and cannabis use. They know this is nothing to do with impairment as much as the police do, but they have more discretion in their rule book.

The Roadside Drug Testing regime is a terrific example of bad laws breeding disrespect and disorder. We know Big Pharma will do whatever it takes to keep weed illegal to maximise their profits, but also now I realise, bit slow, the insurance companies also love this drug war. Any accident and your blood shows even a sceric of any illegal drug and some, maybe even most insurers, just walk away. Some still have “impairment” not presence as the test, but fact is, weed stays in your blood for months. Unlike all the other illegal drugs, cannabis is fat soluble and our body hangs onto it. Our endocannabinoid system loves it. It can remain in our saliva for days it seems, in our urine for weeks, and in our blood for months. Nothing to do with impairment, just presence.

My guess, in the near future cannabis users will be allowed to drive, but only if they have legal weed. They know how to coerce us in the direction they want. Like we may be needing “proof of jab” to go into the pub soon. Will it be a mark in our forehead?!

If you got busted for drug driving at MardiGrass, or in fact anywhere, please contact the HEMP Embassy.

Michael Balderstone
President Nimbin HEMP Embassy & Aust HEMP Party
51 Cullen st, Nimbin, NSW 2480
0266891842
hempembassy.net & nimbinmardigrass.com
australianhempparty.com
The law is the real crime!

AUSTRALIAN HUMANISTS

New Series – Winter 2021 Issue No. 142

Fiona is a member of the Victorian Parliament, and Australian Humanist of the Year in 2020. As leader of the Reason Party, she stands for a future-focused, evidence-based, consultative and pragmatic approach to achieving equality, sustainability and freedom.

I came into politics via the route less travelled. In the mid 1980’s my friends were contracting HIV and some of them died. It had a profound effect on me. I was also running a fashion business focussing on one-off designs. There was not a huge market for clothing at this price range during the recession we had to have. Sex workers were interested and from there I became involved with ACT’s Workers in Sex Employment (WISE). I also became a sex worker for a short while. This led me to heading up the national sex worker organisation the Scarlet Alliance with a stint on the board of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO). While working for WISEI had the privilege of being part of the successful campaign to decriminalise sex work in the ACT.

Jump forward a couple of decades I was again frustrated by the lack of government action on properly regulating the adult goods and services industry, which was partially why I formed my own political party in 2009 to redress these issues. And surprise, surprise? I called it the Australian Sex Party.

Most people thought it was a joke. Some took great exception to the name in the context of an election and lodged complaints and protests with the Electoral Commission. Most just thought that I had no chance of being elected and yet in 2014 the impossible happened and I was elected to the Victorian Upper House. People it seemed, did care about sex and sexuality issues after all!

In my maiden speech I called out the hypocrisy that exists in parliaments all over Australia towards sex workers by saying, I may be the first former sex worker to be elected to a parliament anywhere in Australia, however the clients of sex workers have been elected in far greater numbers before me. Many of the women in the chamber applauded while many of the men just looked at their shoes.

In November 2019 the Victorian Government announced a review into the decriminalisation of sex work and asked me to lead it. It was a brave move by Daniel Andrews’ government to ask a former sex worker to lead such a review. They could have asked one of their own from a conservative social background if they had wanted to appear cautious and politically safe on the issue. Banning sex work (whether by a straight up prohibition on workers having commercial sex or by the more circuitous, smoke and mirrors form of prohibition known as the so-called Nordic model whereby clients are criminalised) had only ever resulted in organised crime getting involved with the industry and this review had to address occupational health and safety issues for the sex workers actually doing the work. Who better to gather together the various sex worker groups in the state and to understand the extremely complex politics of the industry than an MP who was once involved in the industry at a number of levels?

This review has been a long time coming. The Sex Work Act was introduced in 1994, when it was called the Prostitution Control Act, and this name really betrayed its main purpose- to seek to control sex work in Victoria. Although it did not garner the full support of sex workers, it was a step forward in moving sex work from behind the criminal curtain into a legal, regulated industry. It built on the work of Marcia Neaves’ report in 1985, which was ground-breaking at the time, in recommending that the sex industry be regulated rather than suppressed.

Victoria became the first Australian jurisdiction to regulate and legally recognise sex work. However, the system as it currently stands does not work and is no longer fit for purpose. Onerous licensing and registration requirements have created a two-tiered system where many people feel compelled to work illegally, while those working legally are subject to a range of restrictive and intrusive requirements. The current laws barely recognise that there is the internet.

I was asked to consider all forms of sex work and the terms of reference were broad. They included workplace safety, planning, public health, discrimination and stigma. The focus of this review has been on achieving the decriminalisation of sex work in Victoria. It is not a consideration of whether we decriminalise sex work but how we do it.

At a minimum, decriminalisation involves the removal of criminal sanctions on sex work, which unnecessarily criminalises parts of the sex work industry and over-regulates others. This harms sex workers and reinforces social stigma and discrimination against them.

I see decriminalisation as removing the criminal laws that apply to consensual adult sex work and regulating the sex work industry under the same laws and regulations that govern other businesses and service providers. Sex work should be considered as just that, a legitimate form of work. Decriminalisation is about treating sex work just like any other industry, and having it regulated in the same way. Victoria has well developed regulatory systems in place for occupational health and safety, public health and other areas. These should be the primary tools for regulating sex work. During Melbourne’s Covid lockdown I managed to undertake some extensive consultation, all via zoom of course. These meetings included sex workers, business operators, representatives from the community, police, local government, health and workplace safety services and people with expert knowledge of Victoria’s sex work industry. I also accepted written submissions so there was lots to work with.

There were many views put forward and it was great to hear a wide variety of viewpoints. But of course I was particularly focussed on ensuring that the voices of sex workers themselves and their lived experience of the system in Victoria, were central in the formulation of my recommendations.

I have to acknowledge the decades of advocacy of sex worker activists and allies in getting us to this step towards decriminalisation. Countless individuals and groups have fought for sex worker rights and lobbied the state government for many years, and their voices have proven to be powerful and effective. We would not be where we are today had it not been for sex workers campaigning against the obsolete laws they currently operate under.

Discrimination and stigma against sex workers has wide-ranging impacts on their health, wellbeing and social and economic inclusion. It impacts every level of life and business and underpins attitudes that drive violence against sex workers. The majority of people I spoke to said that stigma and discrimination created a barrier to accessing healthcare, social services and housing, and limits educational and employment opportunities. Addressing this is fundamental as it will be crucial to any successful decriminalisation model that amendments are made to the Equal Opportunity Act.

Sex work is just that, work, and a modern approach to this will keep the industry and those who work in it safe and hopefully less stigmatised.