Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:50): My constituency question is for the Minister for Health and relates to a new northern hospital. The Northern Hospital has only 400 beds. It has the busiest emergency department in the state, treating approximately 100 000 patients each year. The Northern Health catchment includes three of the state’s six largest growth areas—Hume, Whittlesea and Mitchell. The swift development of new suburbs in the north will see our population grow by 17 per cent, or 85 000 people, in the next five years alone and over 50 per cent by 2036. The Northern Metropolitan Region needs more than an expanded Northern Hospital. It needs a...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:04): My question is for the minister representing the Minister for Health and relates to the parliamentary inquiry into the use of cannabis in Victoria. It was my referral and an inquiry that I indeed chaired. The report tabled on 5 August 2021 made 21 findings and 17 recommendations and laid the foundations for broad reform of cannabis-related policy in Victoria. Under the rules of this Parliament, the government must respond within six months of a report being tabled, but it has failed to do so, even though that response was due seven months ago. So...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:50): (1969) My constituency question is for the Minister for Health and relates to robot-assisted surgery in public hospitals in the north of the electorate. Surgical cancer margin rates are consistently better where a robot is used. This has resulted in a progressively greater discrepancy between the public and private systems in Victoria, to the point where margin rates are approximately 300 per cent worse in the public system compared to the private sector. Multivariate analysis suggests that this is largely related to the non-use of surgical robots. Currently there are surgical robots being installed in public hospitals...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:19): My question is for the Attorney-General. A recent Fitzroy Legal Service and Latrobe University research report documented how women experiencing domestic and family violence are policed and criminalised. Amongst its various findings, the report highlighted police misidentification of victim-survivors as predominant aggressors as a problematic issue in the criminal justice system that needs to be addressed. It is, I guess, one more matter on this list that I have raised in this forum around women and the justice system. So my question is: will the minister consider a Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) referral in relation to...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:43): My question is for the Minister for Health. My constituent is a member of the Bars of the North, a collective of nightspot operators in Melbourne’s inner north. With the dangerous seizure of a huge quantity of fentanyl at our borders recently, Bars of the North have recommended that their members keep the naloxone nasal spray in their first-aid kits so that they can act in the eventuality of an overdose in the streets near their venues. I think it is a wonderful community-minded idea worthy of support. On this important day, International Overdose Awareness Day, and...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:33): My question is for the Attorney-General and relates to sentencing. Victorian women prisoners are growing at the fastest rate in the Western world, with Aboriginal women being the most incarcerated group on the planet by population. As we heard in the justice inquiry and from organisations like the Health and Community Services Union, the vast majority of female prisoners are victims of family violence, and women tend to have shorter stays in prison for non-violent offences. However, short prison stays hugely impact health and mental health treatment and disrupt important stabilising factors like accommodation, family and employment....

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:38): My constituency question is for the Minister for Education. My constituent is a resident of Oak Park and a mother of two. She highlights that Glenroy College, John Fawkner College and Pascoe Vale Girls College are under-utilised, underperforming and have been that way for some time. She is one of many who believe that schools in this area need a strategic plan and a long-term vision to examine and improve enrolments, attendance, achievement and wellbeing outcomes. She asks: can the minister provide details of a combined education plan for these schools?  

Fiona Patten MP Leader of Reason Member for...