Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:01): I am pleased to rise to speak to the Justice Legislation Amendment (Drug Court and Other Matters) Bill 2020. Yet again this is another omnibus bill. It amends numerous pieces of legislation, and I think the one that we have heard most of today is the amendment to the County Court Act 1958 and the Sentencing Act 1991 to establish a Drug Court division in the County Court. But the bill also makes amendments to the Charities Act 1978, the Limitation of Actions Act 1958, the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005, the Victorian Civil and...
Human Tissue Amendment Bill 2020
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:41): I too am very pleased to rise to speak to the Human Tissue Amendment Bill 2020. I noted, as I was thinking about this bill, that I had my DonateLife badge sitting on my desk today. Certainly, as Mr Tarlamis mentioned, donating your organs or your tissue can save not just one life, it can save a dozen lives. Over the course of just last year nearly 1500 Australians’ lives were saved through a transplant due to the generosity of 500 or 600 people. So you can see how the gift really does give.
Transport Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:53): I rise to make just a fairly short contribution to this bill, which is a very broad and wideranging bill. I did just want to touch on some of the points that were made by Mr Gepp and also Mr Grimley at the beginning. The road toll in Victoria, as Mr Gepp quite rightly said, is one of the leading causes of death. The road toll in 2019 was 242. But I just think it is worth us remembering that the toll from overdoses far exceeds that. The toll from accidental drug overdoses...
Food Amendment Bill 2020
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (13:07): I am pleased to rise to speak to the Food Amendment Bill 2020. As previous speakers have said, this does aim to support a more consistent and transparent regulatory process for the regulation of our food businesses, our cafes and all of those businesses that we are so pleased to be back visiting and eating in. It does this by providing an online portal for councils. I have to say this intention to provide this portal will help improve councils’ reporting processes, compliance, monitoring and operational decision-making. This is very important.
Green new deal
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:26): I am very pleased to rise to speak on this motion. I just want to make note of the kind of graffiti amendment that the opposition has put forward today. It is almost like they crossed out some of the letters so the word means something different altogether—omit ‘Green New Deal’, omit ‘wildlife’, insert ‘roads and pollution’. You know—how to completely change the whole motion. In fact I think I am going to take some inspiration from this and look out for opportunities to do the same kind of graffiti...
Sexual assault data
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:51): I rise briefly to speak to Mr Grimley’s motion. I think it is interesting having this motion coming off the back of the debate that we held yesterday, which really talked about the very pointy end of sex crimes. I know I said yesterday, ‘How do we reduce sex crimes? Well, we stop people committing them’. That changes culture, and I know Mr Grimley mentioned this in his introductory remarks to this motion—and it is true. Like many people in this room, I have experienced sexual assault and I did not report...
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (16:19): I am pleased to speak on the Justice Legislation Amendment (Supporting Victims and Other Matters) Bill 2020. I feel quite privileged to have been in this chamber and listened to so many of the contributions—and some extraordinarily heartfelt contributions. We know that many of the issues that this bill does cover are personal—they are very personal. For some people here they formed part of the pathway to this place. It was some of those experiences that people have shared with us today that formed who they are and formed the members of...
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (14:32): I am pleased to rise to briefly speak about the Safe Patient Care (Nurse to Patient and Midwife to Patient Ratios) Amendment Bill 2020—or 2019 because, yes, it is one that has been sitting on our pink for quite some time. Certainly I was fortunate to be here in 2015 when we first started this notion of ratios, and while the idea began in 2000 it seems that certainly we have seen ratios being taken very seriously over the last four to five years. This new tranche will provide that extra support...
Inquiry into a Legislated Spent Convictions Scheme
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (17:22): I think today is a very good day to speak about the report into a legislated spent convictions scheme—a controlled disclosure of a criminal record information framework for Victoria—because today the government introduced a bill for spent convictions. This is a very memorable day because it is a day that we have been waiting for for decades. In fact in 1987 the Australian Law Reform Commission recommended that we introduce a scheme to protect the disclosure of historical criminal records. Fifteen, 20 years ago nearly every state in Australia adopted a...
Legal and Social Issues Committee Reference
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:04): I do not plan to speak for long, because hopefully I will be chairing this inquiry. I think it is a very important inquiry and I thank Ms Crozier for bringing this inquiry referral to the Legal and Social Issues Committee.
It will be a quick inquiry, and the Legal and Social Issues Committee knows how to do that. We have done it with I Cook Foods. We have been able to turn it around. This will be a quick inquiry and an important inquiry.