Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:53): I had the pleasure of touring the Brunswick workshop of KE Design last week. KE is a business making a real difference in my community, providing 14 jobs for people living with a disability. They make brilliant tea towels and homewares; however, it was their range of beach towels that were my favourite. They tell me that they are sand repellent, but I have not had the opportunity to test that yet. I would like to thank the director, Michael Krutsch, and his team of fabulous workers for their warm reception.   Ms PATTEN: I was also excited to...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (17:59): Last Sunday I had the great pleasure of participating in the Midsumma Pride March. I think it was my seventh or eighth time marching. Hundreds of community groups across Melbourne marched in solidarity and support for our LGBTI+ community.

I saw several members from this place, including Ms Taylor, Ms Shing and Mr Davis, and of course the Premier. The Reason Party this year marched to the tune of an original song by the wonderful David Peake called Love is the Reason, sung by the super-talented Jacob Leaney. And let me tell you, it...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:52:04): I would like to recognise the Inner North Community Foundation, an independent community organisation based in Northern Metro. The foundation was established in 2007 as an initiative of IntoWork Australia and is supported by Moreland, Yarra and Darebin councils. They manage philanthropic dollars to provide funds for projects that create prosperous, connected and cohesive communities in the inner north, particularly encouraging pathways to employment. They have an emphasis on investing in local not-for-profit organisations through grants and other supports, connecting donors to local community groups by managing a donor network for people to contribute small and large...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:46): I rise to acknowledge the incredible work of the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. A friend of my office, at a very fit and healthy 38 years of age, recently went from feeling 100 per cent to the ICU at the Royal Melbourne in the space of a few days, with an aggressive cancer that had metastasised to multiple sites in his body and compromised his liver function. Chris Farrington, a talented barrister and active father of six- and nine-year-old boys, was given just weeks to live. But in the background, a team...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:43): It was an honour to attend the third Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians Australia Region Conference in Adelaide recently. The CWP conference is a non-partisan event for women parliamentarians and this year celebrated 125 years of women’s suffrage in South Australia. Unsurprisingly the conference had a key focus on gender equality in Australian parliaments. There should be equal representation of men and women leading our communities in our legislature, and a great deal more work on this still needs to be done. I also had the great pleasure of addressing the National Press Club of Australia last week in my...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (10:05:15): I rise to speak to the tragic death of popular University of Melbourne Associate Professor Allison Milner. Allison was killed, in what was a freak accident, by a falling tree on the walking track near Princes Park earlier this week. A Reservoir resident, Allison was a much-loved wife and mother of two, and judging by the outpouring of grief amongst her colleagues at the University of Melbourne’s School of Population and Global Health, a popular and respected academic. Head of the school, Professor Terry Nolan, said her heartbreaking death was an immense loss to the university community. Allison...

  Ms PATTEN: On another matter, I would like to congratulate two Northern Metropolitan students—Freya Dobson from Princes Hill Secondary College and Mungo Sweeney from Fitzroy High School. They are the winners of the Parliament Prize for a members statement, so I thought it was very appropriate to mention them in my members statement.  

Fiona Patten MP

Leader of Reason

Member for Northern Metropolitan Region

Statement given 14/8/19

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  MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:40:32): Yesterday voluntary assisted dying became law. It was an incredible privilege to be a member of the committee that undertook the end-of-life choices inquiry, and I would like to thank all the people who made that possible—the families who told us sometimes harrowing stories about loved ones at the end of their lives but also many of their happy moments. We heard about good deaths and bad ones, and what we found was that the community wanted this to happen, and now it has. Thank you to the nurses and doctors who did whatever they could to ease...

  MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:53:42): Courtney Herron’s tragic death still resonates with me now. It led me to deeply reflect: had she not been struggling with serious mental distress, had she not been suffering in isolation, had she not been homeless, would she still be with us today? Housing and early intervention is vital. I was talking to my intern and she revealed that in high school she knew of many students who suffered and are still suffering from intense mental distress and have displayed tendencies of homelessness, often leaving home without notice and not returning until one or two weeks...

MS PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:56:14): Again I will attend a vigil for a young murdered woman killed in my electorate in a park where thousands of us walk, work out and play. Again I am feeling immensely sad and helpless. Melbourne woman Courtney Herron was the ninth woman to be murdered in Victoria this year. That is nine out of the 24 women killed this year in Australia. She was a person at the end of the day, just like all of us. She was just trying to get by— said her friend Jessica Bateman. Other friends of Courtney described...