QDOS research - Fiona Patten - Leader of the Reason Party

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Fiona Patten - Leader of the Reason Party

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QDOS research

by Fiona Patten / Wednesday, 04 August 2021 / Published in

 

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (10:49): I am sorry to disappoint Mr Finn again, but I do not go along with your line of argument there, and I think where you lost me was that you had not actually contacted the Ombudsman about this. If I was this concerned, the first thing I would have done is write a letter to the Ombudsman asking her to investigate this. I think that is how most of us expect this. But no, you have skipped a step, and you have decided to ask the Parliament to force her to investigate this. Now, yes, we have got every right to do that under the legislation, and I acknowledge that, but I am not comfortable with skipping over the first steps of actually asking the Ombudsman to consider this—just picking up the phone, making a call, speaking to that office directly—rather than taking this heavy-handed approach of asking the Parliament to force a fiercely independent office to investigate something on our behalf.

Now, if this was a referral for us to investigate it, well, so be it. Had you come here and said, ‘We asked the Ombudsman. We didn’t get much of a response, so we thought we’d take it to the next level and do this via the Parliament, do it via the legislation’, then I might have listened more carefully. What do they say? ‘When it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck’. This does sound like political opportunism. I—

Mr Finn: When it sounds like corruption and looks like corruption it is corruption.

Ms PATTEN: Well, in that case the Ombudsman will investigate this, and I am sure—

Members interjecting.

Ms PATTEN: As I say, up until yesterday I was not aware that we could force the Ombudsman to take on investigations. I am now well enlightened of that—

Members interjecting.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr Bourman): Order! I am having trouble hearing Ms Patten. If she could continue without assistance, that would be great, Mr Davis.

Mr Davis: No, but she actually voted on that. She cannot say she did not know.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr Bourman): That is great, Mr Davis, but I would like to hear Ms Patten’s contribution, thanks.

Ms PATTEN: I have actually finished my contribution, and as I say, I think there would have been far better means to achieve this.

 

Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Motion by Mr Davis 4/8/21

 

 

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About Fiona Patten

Fiona Patten is the founder and leader of the Reason Party and a Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for the Northern Metropolitan region. She came to politics after 20 years of lobbying for the rights of organisations involved in the sexual rights movement – including small businesses, sex workers, HIV/AIDS organisations, adult media and online anti-censorship groups. Before that she was an established independent fashion designer with her own label called Body Politics.

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