Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:48): My question is to the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change. Edwardes Lake was once a jewel waterway of the north. The 50-year-old boathouse stands as a reminder of its heyday, where water sports, boating, fishing and even swimming were popular for decades. However, pollution, sewage, industrial waste and stormwater events have had a devastating impact on the water quality. Earlier this year, the Friends of Edwardes Lake group noticed a cleaning fluid entering the wetlands via a storm water drain and I understand catchment pollution tracking was then undertaken to identify its source. Can the Minister...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:00): My question is for the Minister for Higher Education. A recent survey by the Health and Community Services Union found 96 per cent of the workforce had witnessed violence in their workplace. The workforce identifies a clear nexus between addiction and this violence. Allied health workers say they need more training and support. Many would like to be skilled by studying Dan Lubman’s graduate certificate in addictive behaviours at Monash University but cannot afford it. The government already offers 10 scholarships in the graduate certificate to general and mental health nurses, so my question is this: would...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:24): (1511) My constituency question is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. Safe Access over Bell Street Bridge for Everyone, SABBE, is a community group of school parents who are concerned about the longstanding safety issues in the Bell Street risk zone at the intersections of Bell, Elizabeth and Nicholson streets at the border of Coburg and Preston. In the last week there have been three serious traffic accidents in the area. Pedestrians, including a large number of Coburg High School kids, are at risk every day on and around the Bell Street bridge. Shockingly, the...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:16): My question is for the Attorney-General. Since 2015 the Mental Health Legal Centre and Bolton Clarke homeless persons program have delivered a unique health justice service to the most vulnerable people in our society. Much of their work has been to help women with PTSD from domestic violence and people with acquired brain injuries navigate legal issues. We know our most vulnerable are the most likely to be caught up in the justice system. Their service provides legal advice, financial counselling and social workers to help people in prison, but this service will stop in December...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:19): (1476) My constituency question is for the Minister for Creative Industries. On 27 May this year the highly anticipated festival, the Rising, of which the government is a principal partner, was cancelled due to the spread of COVID. This festival was going to be a kickstart for so many artists in my electorate as well as all of the CBD venues that were hosting this festival, and many of my constituents of course are keen to see some world-class music and art. There is no indication of when the event will be rescheduled. So, Minister,...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:57): (1436) My constituency question is for the Minister for Education, and it is in regard to John Fawkner College, which is just north of my electorate office. The college was very pleased to receive $50 000 in funding in the 2019 budget for a master plan for the school’s much-needed redevelopment. I know, President, you would be well aware of this too. The master plan has been finished. It is great, but they are yet to hear any more about the works for that school. So can the minister confirm that John Fawkner College will...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:36): My question is for Minister Pulford in her portfolio of medical research, and it relates to the neuromedicines discovery centre, which is a new and unique research venture by Monash University. Trials have shown that medically assisted psychotherapy is an effective and long-lasting treatment option for PTSD, depression and substance use disorders—and I am pleased that Minister Leane has also taken an interest in this. But we need more research, and Victoria is the best place to do it. This project responds to the royal commission’s key research priority recommendation on innovation in pharmacology and is...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:45): (1396) My constituency question is for the Minister for Community Sport. My office has been contacted by Steven Hazelwood, the operations manager for the Thornbury Turf Strokers Cricket Club. His club is in the difficult position of having to find a training ground for the upcoming season, because many local councils have taken the bizarre step of renovating their cricket facilities during the cricket season. The club approached Cricket Victoria to see if they have a list of cricket nets in Melbourne, but such a list does not exist. Therefore would the minister be able...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:05): My question is for the minister representing the police minister. I have been contacted by Fitzroy Legal Service and a private criminal law firm who are acting for multiple clients of the medically supervised injecting room who have recently been charged with drug possession offences within the vicinity of the MSIR, most within 50 metres of the facility and one immediately outside the front door. It is categorical that the entire operation of the facility is dependent on the exercise of police discretion in not arresting clients at the centre. Clients must bring their own...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (1369) Incorporated pursuant to order of Council of 7 September: My constituency question is for the Minister for Health and relates to the Services Victoria app. For many months now my constituent has been using QR codes to check in everywhere she goes in my electorate, believing that the purpose of doing so was to ensure that, if she was in the same place as someone who had coronavirus, the government would use that check-in data to let her know. But having attended exposure sites at Greensborough Plaza and Ms Frankie in Cremorne, she found out the hard way that this...