Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:44): I am pleased to rise to speak to this amendment bill, the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment Bill 2020. I am pleased that we are speaking about it today, because tomorrow is International Harm Reduction Day and this bill is a harm reduction bill. This bill is not—as we normally see when we see an amendment to the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981—about greater criminalisation, where we see increases in penalties and the broadening of offences under this legislation for people who use drugs. Now, people use drugs for a lot of reasons,...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (16:48): I move: That this house: (1) recognises that: (a) the ability to petition the Parliament is a right of all Victorian citizens; (b) petitions are the only way an individual or group of citizens can directly place grievances before the Parliament; (c) petitions provide an important tool for improving community engagement with the political process; (2) notes that: (a) a petition is a citizen’s request for action, but once a copy of the petition has been referred to a minister by the Clerk, no further action is required, which is a flaw in the parliamentary system of democracy; (b) the Australian House of...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (16:05): Not surprisingly, I join my crossbench colleagues in opposing this motion. In some ways if this motion had been more nuanced, if this motion had been about how do we get the best out of the Legislative Council, how do we get the best for the people of Victoria, how do we get the best diversity of representation in this chamber, then I think it would have been a very different conversation. But the tone and the way this was taken was that for some reason under the current system, because of the current system,...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (14:49): I must say: the revolutionary talk that is coming out of this place! I mean, normally we would be expecting to try and bring down the federal government coming from the other side of the house. That was a very interesting contribution, Mr Finn. From the outset, I actually support a reduction in payroll tax, and while I do not recall 1939 and I do not recall— Members interjecting. Ms PATTEN: I am not sure whether the government side should take it as a compliment that Mr Finn wants to give the government back the right to introduce state...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:51): I, too, am very pleased to rise to speak to this Spent Convictions Bill 2020. When I was thinking about what to say about this bill, I actually found it quite hard to resolve where I would begin on this. Over the last few years I have had a number of opportunities to speak about the controlled disclosure system for historic convictions, many times in this house and also outside, and this bill is similar to the one that was tabled in this house two years ago—on 4 February 2019, to be precise—but, to be...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (14:48:218:): Thank you, Mr Limbrick. I actually feel like I understand a few things better as a result. I cannot say that I necessarily agree with Mr Limbrick in his assessment, but I certainly listened with interest to that contribution. He is absolutely right, and, as Ms Watt says, it is not very common that we come in here to debate a constitutional amendment, to debate changing our constitution. Certainly entrenchment in statutory law like this means we will need a full majority to do this, but it does not mean that it cannot be taken...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (10:10): Pursuant to standing order 23.29, I lay on the table the final report from the Legal and Social Issues Committee on the inquiry into homelessness in Victoria, including appendices. I further present transcripts of evidence and the final report and summary booklet and I move: That the transcripts of evidence lie on the table and the final report and summary booklet be published. Motion agreed to. Ms PATTEN: I move: That the Council take note of the report. This is a report that this Parliament will be proud of. The inquiry into homelessness epitomised the good work that this Parliament...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (14:28): I am very pleased to rise to speak to Mr Meddick’s motion today, and I agree with Ms Crozier: I think it is an extremely good motion to be debating today, and I have been really moved by quite a few of the contributions. As we know, family violence is such a scourge in our society. Ms Crozier just gave some statistics there, but when I think of how on average one woman is killed by a partner every week, that is just too shocking. In reflecting on Mr Meddick’s motion around the impact that family violence...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:46): I could say it feels like groundhog day again, but I do not want to say that, because this is different. After a number of sleepless nights and after a number of weeks of negotiations with the government on this bill, I am satisfied to support this bill. Not only that, I know that not supporting it would have been the morally wrong thing to do. To just say no would have been the morally wrong thing to do. It would have been the easy thing to do. Thank you to the Liberal Party—I received...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (14:22): I am pleased to rise today to make a contribution on the debate on the decriminalisation of public drunkenness. Let me be very clear from the outset, the Reason Party will be supporting this legislation today. We think it is a very important step to start framing substance use and misuse as a health issue and not a criminal one. But I think more importantly it is another step to reducing deaths in custody, particularly the deaths in custody of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, who we know are 10 times more likely to die...