Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (17:10:34): I would very much like to rise and speak to this motion that was brought to the house by the crossbench, by Mr Meddick. World AIDS Day has been commemorated in this country since 1988, and I have been commemorating it since that day. In 1989 Darren Hook was my first friend to die of HIV and AIDS, and since then I have seen many of my friends die. At the end I was not going to funerals. In those days it was a death sentence, and you would almost rather not know....

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:50:01): I am very pleased to rise to speak to Mr Limbrick’s motion. It is a very simple one, and I am somewhat disappointed that neither the government nor the opposition would support a very simple call to just evaluate what we are doing. This is not saying to stop sniffer dogs and it is not saying to roll out more, it is just saying let us evaluate it. That was recommendation 50 of the Law Reform, Road and Community Safety Committee’s recommendations in the previous Parliament. That committee had a consensus report. We did...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (10:29): I lay on the table a statement of compatibility with the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006:  

In accordance with section 28 of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (the charter), I make this statement of compatibility with respect to the Crimes Amendment (Abolition of Blasphemy) Bill 2019. In my opinion, the Bill, as introduced to the Legislative Council, is compatible with human rights as set out in the charter. I base my opinion on the reasons outlined in this statement.

Overview

of bill The purpose of the Crimes...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (15:59:34): I too rise to speak to the Workplace Safety Legislation Amendment (Workplace Manslaughter and Other Matters) Bill 2019. As many other speakers before me have noted and outlined, it amends the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 to introduce a new criminal offence of workplace manslaughter. The bill aims to hold organisations and individual officers to account where they engage in negligent conduct causing the death of a worker or a member of the public. In doing so these laws are designed to pierce that corporate veil. I have considered these reforms closely. I...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (16:00:32): I will just rise to make a few comments on the Building Amendment (Cladding Rectification) Bill 2019. I must say I have had some reservations about this bill, and certainly this has been an issue that I am sure most of us have received a lot of correspondence on. Fundamentally the bill acts on key recommendations of the task force’s review to rectify buildings with high-risk cladding and to establish a dedicated cladding agency. There will also be a grants program to provide funding to work on the literally hundreds of buildings that have been found...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (16:50:37): It is not often we see this level of consensus in the room, this warm feeling. I am not sure that that is just thinking about—   Members interjecting.   Ms PATTEN: This is a good bill, and the Reason Party is very, very pleased to be supporting Mr Barton. I commend him for bringing this to the house. Some of the government speakers have said, 'You know, there’s unintended consequences’, and I understand they are a little bit concerned with this very simple piece of legislation, that it may have some unintended consequences, but this bill is trying...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (11:38:02): I will speak briefly on this as well. I commend Mr Hayes for this bill, and I know that this is something that he has been passionate about. I have really actually enjoyed listening to the other speakers who have experience on local councils and local government. I must say that I spend a lot of time with my local government in my electorate, and I find them to be a great resource and a great source of information. I think that they do some remarkably good work and that they do represent their community. However,...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (11:43): I rise to make comment on the threatened species inquiry motion put forward by Dr Ratnam today. Native species are dying out. Climate change is real. This is the most important issue before us. You can debate all the laws you like in this place, and it will not mean squat unless we pay attention to what Dr Ratnam is saying today. Our ecosystems are in distress. Two hundred and forty leading scientists recently came together to sound the alarm bells. Within two decades scores of native species will be extinct. We must act now, and those that...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (14:49): I actually thank Ms Crozier for this motion because it does give us an opportunity to speak about the medically supervised injecting room in North Richmond. I have to note that the government have taken a third of the time that has been given to this chamber to speak on this, and I note that actually at no point did they mention that the government kept saying no to me when I kept saying, ‘We need a supervised injecting room’. I said that time and time again, and you said no. You said no and...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (14:42:41): I am pleased to rise to speak to the Primary Industries Legislation Amendment Bill 2019. As previous speakers have mentioned, this is largely an omnibus bill that covers many areas of the industry. In fact it is very diverse. It really covers everything that has been on my plate all week. I am on the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee with Mrs McArthur, and I think probably one of the liveliest SARC meetings was when we went through the Primary Industries Legislation Amendment Bill, which does seem remarkable. There was much conversation about broilers, and I...