Fashion industry
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:53): This month I was very pleased to launch the Reason Party’s campaign to promote Victoria’s fantastic, magnificent fashion industry. It is internationally recognised, and it is a cultural and economic gem of Victoria. We are also using this campaign to highlight the appalling, unsustainable textile waste in Australia. We launched with a panel discussion with local designers and stylists.
It is called F*** Fast Fashion: buy local, buy ethical, buy less. We will be running this over the coming months with a whole range of themed events. To get Parliament into the spirit of this and to support this industry that is a crucial local generator of jobs and creativity, we are planning a pollies fashion parade, so I will be in touch soon with you all. As someone in my office said, ‘No, that is not an oxymoron’: pollies and fashion.
We have got a lot to fix. 780 000 tonnes of waste are sent into landfill in Australia every year, making us the world’s second-highest consumer of textiles per person. Fast fashion, often profiteering from the exploitation of women in developing economies, is the main culprit.
The aim is to encourage people to support local designers by shopping locally and to consider the ethical and environmental ramifications of choosing fast fashion. I am sure it is something with which we can all get on board.
Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Members statement 23/2/22
Chatty Cafe Scheme
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan)
Incorporated pursuant to order of Council of 7 September 2021:
Last Wednesday, along with Minister Leane, I was very pleased to attend the launch of the Chatty Cafe project at the Chatty Cafe at Sandy Beach Kiosk in Sandringham.
The Chatty Cafe Scheme aims to get people chatting to build and encourage social connections within the local community, and to help reduce social isolation and loneliness.
Australian venues that sign up offer ‘Have a Chat’ tables—a space for people to talk, whether it is for 5 minutes or an hour of good friendly conversation, while you drink a brew of your choice and/or eat a snack or meal.
I like to think of it as the opposite of a quiet carriage on the train!
I have been a fan of Chatty Cafes and the formidable Australian organiser Glenys Reid for some time and have seen firsthand the beautiful connection formed. It was just great to hang out with the Chatty volunteers.
I have spent years now advocating for change to alleviate loneliness, a silent killer as deadly as smoking tobacco or being obese. This is one fabulous initiative that forms a piece in that loneliness puzzle.
I look forward to continuing working with the Victorian government to implement the key elements of my motion to elevate the problem of loneliness—and facilitate the solutions—in part by allocating it a portfolio.
Meanwhile, I will continue my regular sessions with the fabulous Chatty Cafe organisation, and commend it to you all. It’s a lot of fun.
Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Members Statement 9/2/21
Save our scene
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:58): I rise today to congratulate and thank the Save Our Scene group, who recently secured $20 million in support to save live music in Victoria and in Northern Metropolitan. I was happy to champion this cause directly to the Minister for Creative Industries and in this house. Live music is what makes Melbourne Melbourne. This package will save our favourite venues and fund new festivals and shows.
I would like to thank Simone Ubaldi from the Croxton Park Hotel, who created Save Our Scene. She was a champion advocate with the government, and she is clearly very good at it. But there were many others from venues across Melbourne: Lucie Ribush from Revolver, who designed the campaign, and Ben Thompson from 170 Russell, who coordinated the campaign. I would also like to publicly recognise the following people and groups who helped in the campaign: Liam Alexander, Paris Martine, Sasha Janssen, Bella Kranjek, Jason Moore and Kate Dunn, alongside great support from RRR, PBS, Bolster and Plakkit. Live music will come back stronger than ever.
Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Members statement 16/11/21
Dr Rodney Syme
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:43): I would like to rise to pay tribute to a truly magnificent man, Dr Rodney Syme, without whom Victoria would not have passed our voluntary assisted dying laws, which led to similar laws being passed in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and hopefully New South Wales soon. Rodney was a friend and a mentor and, I know, someone who was respected by many in this chamber. The people of Victoria are the beneficiaries of Rodney Syme’s advocacy and activism, and that is his legacy. Rodney died last week at the age of 86 after fighting for decades for a law that gives terminally ill people close to death and in pain the dignity of choice. Rodney, at massive risk to himself, openly stated he had been helping many such people for a long time. He was fearless and he was often funny, and his moral conviction was unimpeachable. He was a humble giant in our community and known across the world for his determination, gentleness and courage. Think of what a human should be. Rodney Syme was that.
Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan
Members statement 26/10/21
Robbie Swan
Ms PATTEN: And, finally, I would like to recognise an amazing larrikin; a wonderful and generous son, father and grandfather; a bloke who has been a protester, a publisher, a lobbyist, a florist, a transcendental meditation teacher, a friend and a frenemy to many. Happy birthday, Robbie Swan.
Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan
Members statement 14/10/21
Frontline health workers
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (16:34): Our communities are tired. We have been under restrictions for who knows how long, but it is certainly longer than anywhere else. Our hair is too long. Many in our community are doing it really tough. Thousands are mourning the loss of a loved one due to COVID. But many of us can see a finish line. However, that is not the finish line for our nurses and healthcare workers—it is nowhere near. They have many more months of relentless, long hours in full PPE, without breaks and getting abused. It is only vaccination rates that they can hope for. So it is great news that the government has listened and is providing a pay boost. It is much-needed recognition for the care these workers continue to provide us, and I am particularly pleased to see that our allied health workers were recognised. But we can and we must do more. I have spoken to nurses who are taking annual leave because of the understandable stress the pandemic places on these dedicated people. We should be providing pandemic stress leave for those who are on the front line without a realistic finish line.
Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan
Members statement 14/10/21
Inner North Community Foundation
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan)
Incorporated pursuant to order of Council of 7 September:
I would like to give a shout out to Ben Rodgers and the Inner North Community Foundation for the financial support they’ve provided local communities in my electorate.
The foundation raised $500,000 to support 150 community groups affected by the pandemic in 2020. Neighbourhood houses, disability groups, even a community garden were the beneficiaries of this support.
I am excited to help Ben and his team launch their new ‘Baker’s Dozen Social Justice fund’.
The fund is possible through a bequest left by Dr Christopher Baker and Ms Kerri Hall. They bequeathed their Brunswick property, which will deliver $3.3 million to the foundation, which will be invested in perpetuity.
This will provide $120,000 worth of grants each year to those living and working in the Inner North who contribute to transformational and sustainable change.
The Inner North Foundation shows what’s possible when a community comes together. Congratulations to Ben and the team on the establishment of their new fund, and I look forward to working with them to find more ways to invest in the inner north.
Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Members statement 16/9/21
Queen’s Birthday Honours
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (10:24): I would like to congratulate several outstanding people in Northern Metro, and in particular I would like to recognise the women. Former mayors Helen Patsikatheodorou and Casey Nunn have both been awarded for their outstanding individual service to the people of their communities. Julie Dempsey has been recognised for her service to community mental health through her long-time work with the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health. Julie Paul was recognised for her community health service, having worked with Banksia Palliative Care Service for 25 years and co-founding Australian International Palliative Education and Consultancy Services. And finally, my good friend Dr Susie Allanson was awarded an OAM for her service to community health as a psychologist.
Susie spent her career helping others in roles with the Children’s Court of Victoria and the Royal Children’s Hospital. Many people in this place will have come into contact with Susie through her passionate advocacy for women via her role at the Fertility Control Clinic in East Melbourne. She was pivotal in the successful campaign for the introduction of safe access zones laws that passed in this house last term. Congratulations, Susie, and I am looking forward to reading the book.
Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Members statement 24/6/21
Western Australian election results
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan): Speaking of a different approach to drugs, just very quickly on another matter I would like to congratulate Brian Walker and Sophia Moermond from the Legalise Cannabis Western Australia Party in WA. I was able to be there on Monday for their swearing-in as upper house MPs in the Parliament of Western Australia. The party is well and truly the third force in WA’s politics, having leapfrogged all other minor parties at the recent election. It shows Australian attitudes to cannabis have changed significantly in the past few years, and I have seen this as the chair in the current inquiry into the use of cannabis in Victoria.
Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Members statement 26/5/21
New Zealand Drug Foundation Symposium
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:47): I had the great honour to address the annual symposium held by the New Zealand Drug Foundation, Through the Maze: On the Road to Health, at the New Zealand Parliament two weeks ago. It was a fascinating program that discussed the politics of shifting to a health-based approach to drugs. I would like to thank Kathy Errington, executive director of the Helen Clark Foundation, who chaired a lively panel on how Parliament can help this important shift, alongside Labour MP Arena Williams, Chlöe Swarbrick of the Greens, and former Nationals MP and agitator Chester Borrows. The New Zealanders were particularly interested in the successful health-based approach that has been taken in Victoria with the medically supervised injecting room. Injecting drug use is not just a problem here but in jurisdictions across the world, and there has been a significant shift by governments to treat this as a health issue not a criminal one.
Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan Region
Members statement 26/5/21