MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:09:31): My question is for the Minister for Health. I would like to pick up where Dr Ratnam left off yesterday on the issue of pill testing. Pill testing is used as a harm minimisation strategy and has been for decades around the world, including New Zealand, and the evidence shows that it does work. As pointed out yesterday, pill testing is supported by the likes of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Australian Medical Association, the Australian College for Emergency Medicine, Harm Reduction Victoria and Victorian ambulance workers. So I ask again that you...

MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:01:09): My constituency question is for the Minister for Health. My constituent phoned yesterday, having had her dental appointment cancelled unexpectedly at Merri Health in Coburg. I contacted Merri Health to inquire and now understand that the cancelled appointment is a consequence of a new enterprise agreement for community health sector dentists, supported by the government, which mirrors the enterprise agreement for dentists working in hospitals. Merri Health says the proposed changes will cost them $300 000. Without supplementary funding, this means they have no option but to cut services in order to keep operating. They...

MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:57:12) — My constituency question is for the Minister for Health. My electorate officer gave birth last week to a beautiful baby girl. She has alerted me to a wonderful innovation that actually won one of the Premier's design awards last week. It is called Karitane Early Parenting Concept Store, and it brings the skills, experience and care of child and family health nurses and support services to a shopping centre. However, that shopping centre is actually in Westfield Bondi Junction in New South Wales. The store has helped 4000 new families in its first six months and seems...

MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:00:40) — My question is for the Minister for Planning, represented here by Minister Dalidakis, and it relates to the 290-metre floating gas terminal proposed for Western Port Bay. This has been raised in here before, but it was raised with me earlier this week. We know that Australia is the largest gas producer, and perversely we export so much that we now will be importing. So my question is: will the minister confirm that the Crib Point AGL gas import terminal will be subjected to a full environment effects statement process to ensure that the project is...

MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:01:21) — My question is for the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, represented by Minister Dalidakis, and relates to massage parlours — not assuming you have any knowledge of them here. Right near my electorate office on Sydney Road, near the intersection with Albion Street, there are three massage parlours. If you head 500 metres north up Sydney Road to the intersection with Moreland Road, there are another three. It is a pattern that repeats itself not only along Sydney Road but right across Melbourne — in fact just straight metres from here along Bourke Street. My question for...

MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (14:38:45) — My constituency question is for the Minister for Public Transport. My constituent is a regular user of the Upfield bike path that runs along the Upfield train line, and he, like me, was pleased that the minister heeded the Reason Party's call to extend the pathway 800 metres to link the Upfield path to the Western Ring Road bike path. However, my constituent in consultation with VicRoads on this project has been informed that it will not be completed, or even started, until the next financial year. So I ask on behalf of my constituent: given the...

MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (14:28:16) — My question is for the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, represented in the house by Minister Dalidakis, and it relates to poker machine reform. A recent Essential Media Communications poll which surveyed 1035 respondents found 63 per cent supported the introduction of $1 maximum bets and only 15 per cent opposed it or strongly opposed it. Importantly, an even stronger 69 per cent of regular machine gamblers backed this measure. This poll demonstrates the clear community support for a reform that I note has already been proposed twice by the Productivity Commission. So my question is: given that there...

MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:06:10) — My question is for the Minister for Families and Children, representing the Minister for Health. Women in Victoria have a lawful right to access a termination up until 24 weeks. However, I am increasingly contacted by women who have been unable to access terminations in public hospitals. These terminations are available in the private sector to those who can afford to pay for them but this seems to be decreasingly true in the public system, so I ask the minister to detail the specific number of public system appointments currently available for terminations between 14 and 18 weeks...

MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (14:51:12) — My constituency question is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. One of my constituents is a resident of Mill Park and is deeply concerned about traffic congestion in our northern suburbs. Whittlesea, at the top of our electorate, has experienced rapid growth. The municipality is now bigger than Geelong, with 60 babies being born each week and 150 new residents moving into the suburb of South Morang itself each month. Point blank, transport infrastructure has failed to keep up with this rapid growth. As much as sustainable public transport is desirable, the pragmatic reality is that...