Unfinished Business

If you told me at the start of 2024 that within 12-months I would be back and once again gearing up for another election campaign, I would have laughed. My 2022 bid for a third term in the Victorian upper house was unsuccessful, Reason Party was on the backburner, I had just had surgery for my third cancer diagnosis and while I loved every minute of my eight years in the Victorian parliament, I certainly wasn’t planning any Rocky-inspired political comebacks.

State politics was a wonderful opportunity for me to champion so many of the causes I am passionate about, and it was such an amazing privilege to represent a diverse array of people whose voices often go unheard. 

For eight years, I worked with all sides of politics to achieve a progressive reform agenda, and help affect real change. I hold the title for the most private members bills introduced and debated. And in my second term I was the first independent MP to head a parliamentary committee, chairing 10 parliamentary inquiries, including Australia’s first inquiry into the use of cannabis. I also helped lead the way for changes to Victoria’s outdated and unfair Roadside Drug Testing laws by establishing a medicinal cannabis taskforce that led to the New Report For Medicinal Cannabis And Driver Safety in Victoria.

I honestly don’t regret a moment of the 8 years. I learned so much, and I certainly didn’t take any moment for granted.

So, why am I coming back?

Losing re-election came on the back of losing a kidney due to a cancer diagnosis.  A tumour was discovered on one of my kidneys a few months earlier.  A had a nephrectomy (the removal of a kidney) during the campaign, and preventive chemotherapy immediately after the election. Since that diagnosis I was diagnosed with two more cancers that required surgery and treatment  but got the all clear from my doctors at the end of last year 🎉. 

Chemotherapy was awful and I was prescribed medicinal cannabis to help cope with the nausea and insomnia.

I went into parliament in 2014 as the first MP to speak openly about using cannabis recreationally, and I left as a medicinal cannabis patient.

So you could say it’s personal!

Cannabis reform has always been high on my to do list, and it’s unfinished business for me. To open up law reform at the state level, we need to change the federal law and that’s what I intend to do. 

My time away from politics has given me a fresh perspective on important issues, and allowed me to re energise. I spent a good part of 2023 mentoring the Legalise Cannabis Victoria MPs by sharing my experiences with them while they settled in, and I also became deputy chair of the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association.

My work with the Victorian Legalise Cannabis crew was a continuation, in many ways, of the work I started during my time in parliament. 

In Victoria, we recently saw a breakthrough interim measure enacted that allows a magistrate to use judicial discretion not to cancel the driver’s license of medicinal cannabis users. This will mean medicinal cannabis users, who are taking their medication as prescribed and not impaired while driving, will not automatically lose their license if THC is detected at a roadside drug test.

The interim measure will act as temporary legislation while the findings of a closed circuit track trial into the effect of medicinal cannabis while driving are released. 

These small steps have been possible because support for reform is growing. Legalise Cannabis is now the fourth largest party in Australia. It’s been an extraordinary period of growth and that in itself is indicative of the attitude towards cannabis laws in Australia.

My approach has always been to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Small steps are still steps in the right direction.

My next step is to get elected to the Australian senate.