Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (17:59): I rise to speak to the Sustainable Forests Timber Amendment (Timber Harvesting Safety Zones) Bill 2022, a bill that purports to improve Victoria’s legislative framework for safe timber harvesting. The bill is said to respond to increased dangerous forest protest activity in timber harvesting safety zones, but the government have not been able to document evidence of increased OH&S incidents in their briefing to my office. Rather, it seems like it was a vibe thing, that we are worried that this could be. Well, my vibe is that this is not an OH&S bill at all....

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (10:15): Pursuant to standing order 23.29, I lay on the table a report from the Legal and Social Issues Committee on the inquiry into children affected by parental incarceration, including appendices. I further present transcripts of evidence, and I move: That the transcripts of evidence lie on the table and the report be published. Motion agreed to. Ms PATTEN: I move: That the Council take note of the report. This is a really important report and it is a report that just fills me with the sense of privilege that we have in this place. Before I speak to the report,...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (10:32): I am saddened but privileged to be part of this condolence. I too cannot actually remember the time that I met Jane, but I remember a particular time when—I had met her many times before that—I had just been elected. It was in 2014 and I was sitting in Rathdowne Street kind of thinking, ‘Shit, what have I done?’. Jane came past and saw me, ordered a bottle of wine and sat down with me for a couple of hours and was just so generous in her support, in her insights, in her ideas. She...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (17:21): I cannot say I am pleased to speak on this motion, but I am compelled to. This morning I second read a bill that was something really important, and it was really important to the majority of people in Victoria, around access to reproductive health from public health providers. I take my time in this chamber very seriously. I feel incredibly privileged to be here to represent my community, and every moment, including those precious 90 minutes that I get on a general business day—I get them twice a year—is precious. I think long and hard...

That the bill be now read a second time.

When the USA Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and with it nearly 40 years of women’s abortion rights, it caused shock waves here. In Victoria, thousands took to the street in protest. My sense was that the loss of that principle in the USA felt like a loss to women and gender-diverse people everywhere. We felt acutely the stripping of autonomy and the...

 

Ms Patten: President, I present a petition bearing 1,320 signatures from certain citizens of Victoria requesting that the Legislative Council call on the Government to reject the permit for the proposed quarry in the Beveridge northwest precinct and introduce legislation to prevent the development of quarries within the urban growth boundary in Mitchell Shire.

I move -- That the petition do lie on the table.  

Fiona Patten MP Leader of Reason Member for Northern Metropolitan Region Petition tabled 9/6/22

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