Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (11:54): My constituency question is for the Minister for Planning. The MCG Trust, the Melbourne Cricket Club and the Yarra Park trust have changed the regulations for the precinct around the MCG known as Yarra Park to ban amplified sound. Yarra Park is an entertainment precinct. Under these changes it will be impossible to have entertainment. All the outdoor events that could have been hosted in a COVID-safe manner cannot go ahead. These events bring in millions of dollars of investment. We need investment in outdoor events to help rebuild the...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (11:14): My question is for Minister for Local Government. When it comes to regional rates policy, governments of either colour have issued reports, reviews and recommendations but really taken very little action. In last Saturday’s edition of the Sunraysia Daily the editor wrote a column where he spoke about his sister, who lives in Box Hill. Her property is worth twice as much as his property on the outskirts of Mildura, yet she pays half the rates. So a person with a modest property in the most isolated part of the...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (11:54): My constituency question is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. Last year I joined the City of Whittlesea’s nightmare commute bus, and a nightmare it was—2 hours and 12 excruciating minutes from Wollert to the CBD.

The fragmented Edgars Road has been a crucial missing link in Melbourne’s north for decades. A 1-kilometre stretch between Cooper Street and O’Herns Road, as I understand, is near completed but is currently the only part of this much-needed project that has begun.

My...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (11:17): My question is for the Attorney-General. Prior to the 30 June deadline for organisations to sign up to the national redress scheme, the Attorney-General said, and I quote, it is ‘just not acceptable’ that institutions do not sign up:

We will be making it a condition of contracts with the Victorian Government that institutions that have got a liability when it comes to institutional sexual abuse join the redress scheme.

Ms Hennessy said funding was in jeopardy, including grants and funding to deliver...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:12): My question is for Minister Leane, as veterans minister. The RSL was founded during World War I to help care for returning veterans. A hundred years later these clubs are multimillion-dollar organisations.

In Victoria a large proportion of the RSL’s annual income comes from poker machines. To be precise, RSL poker machines turned over $260 million in revenue, but less than 4 per cent of that revenue, $9.8 million, went back into the community and veteran welfare.

We know that veterans are...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (11:51): My constituency question is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. The Bell Residents Group has produced a rather annoying—you may have heard it, President—earworm video to the tune of Go West. It is an appeal from residents around the Bell Street station, currently under construction, and they would like to see the location of the entrance to the new car park go to the west. The current plan, which residents believe is poor, has the car park entrance on the east side. My constituents claim in song that moving the...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:06): My question is to the Minister for Small Business. Licensed brothels, escort agencies, strip clubs and adult service operators are concerned that because of the nature of their business they will be discriminated against during the reopening of Victorian businesses that has just been announced by the government. Like many other sectors that require close contact, such as beauty salons, tattoo artists or massage therapists, those involved in the sex industry have put together COVID-safe operating plans to ensure that both workers and clients follow health protocols. Given its...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:25): My constituency question is for the Minister for Public Transport. Earlier this year we had the YMCA Youth Parliament here. It was not the normal Youth Parliament that we normally have, but it was still terrific for Coburg High School, who were able to take part in it and put forward a bill. Their bill was called the Free Public Transport for Students Bill 2020. Coburg High School wrote to me about this bill, and I think they are quite right: this bill should gather the support of the majority of...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan):

My question is for the Minister for Community Sport, Ros Spence.

Members of my community in Coburg have been blindsided by the proposal to install synthetic grass on the majority of Hosken Reserve, denying the community valuable green space.

I understand the field will be used by the local soccer teams, but the grant process was predicated on satisfactory community consultation, and I can say many people feel they were not consulted.

What prompted you to announce an...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:10): My question is for the Minister for Veterans, Minister Leane.

I actually probably would have written to you about this today, but seeing as we are here, it gave me the perfect opportunity to ask you about it. As we know, veterans face homelessness at a far greater rate than the average population.

In fact DVA, the federal veterans affairs office, said there were about 3000; we now know that there are more like 6000 veterans who are homeless in Australia, and about...