Local government gender equality
The Butterfly Club
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:44): My constituency question is for the Minister for Creative Industries. The Butterfly Club is a small theatre in the Melbourne CBD. Currently industry restrictions are written in such a way to limit their capacity to 75 per cent of the auditorium. They are also imposing a limit of one person per 2 square metres in their foyer. In practice this limits the capacity of the Butterfly Club and similar theatres to the size of their foyers, because the 50 per cent quotient will always be lower than the 75 per cent limit of their...
Covid fines
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:33): My question is for the Attorney-General. The Public Accounts and Estimates Committee’s inquiry into the Victorian government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic found 39 985 fines had been issued to people in Victoria for breaches of the COVID-19 rules. 2806 of those fines have been paid in full and 4869 were withdrawn. How many unpaid COVID fines issued have now been converted to criminal charges?
Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Resources) (12:34): I thank Ms Patten for her question. There is a little bit...
Central Pier, Docklands
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (11:20): My question is to the Minister for Workplace Safety and relates to Central Pier in Docklands. A recent article in the Age revealed that Development Victoria, the agency in charge of Central Pier, knew for quite a few years that the 100-year-old structure was at extreme risk of collapse, before it was shut down abruptly.
The Federal Court documents show that prior to the shutdown on 28 August 2019 Development Victoria had been warned that the pier risked catastrophic failure but delayed acting in an apparent attempt...
Yarra Park
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...
Local government rates
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...
Edgars Road, Epping
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...
National Redress Scheme
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...
RSL poker machines
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...
Bell Station car park
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...