MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:24:35): In this week of great tragedy, I feel it is a perfect time to reflect on some of the good being done in our community and to recognise those individuals and organisations—people like former parish priest Michael Parer, who is doing wonderful work to heal the pain inflicted by the Catholic Church by lobbying for swift changes to the inadequate redress scheme and to create a healing garden to support victims and survivors of child sex abuse in both Sale and Ballarat, like Ethan Mileikowski and Lachlan Lewis, who left school to participate in the incredible rally for climate change last week, and like the organisers of the ChillOut Festival, which I attended a fortnight ago, which aimed to bring together the rural LGBTI community of Victoria in a show of love and solidarity. Or Karen Crombie, the publisher of the inspiring book Intrepid Women, which I had the privilege of launching last week. Or the excellent staff of the United Nations Association of Australia in Victoria and the Immigration Museum, where I participated in a panel discussion on the UN Global Compact on Refugees in Australia. Or Alison Coelho from the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health, who is focussing on lobbying for the rights of international students working as sex workers and tackling the prickly issue of refugee sexual health. I celebrate them all. These are all people and organisations that make Victoria proud, and I look forward to continuing to work together with you all.
