Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:48): On Sunday I had the great pleasure of attending Change Our Game Celebrating Pride in Women’s Footy, and this was at the Mail Oval in Parkville. It was hosted by my team, the Fitzroy Football Club, and the Melbourne University Women’s Football Club. The pride celebration, lunch and game were a brilliant way to show our support for the LGBTI footy community, and although it was not Fitzroy’s day it was a great day. All profits from the lunch went to Queerspace Youth at Drummond Street, which is a peer-led program for queer,...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (10:56): I too feel very privileged to rise here today in this historic setting of the Legislative Council’s sitting in Bright. I think it is really apt that we are here in this town named after John Bright, the radical and renowned British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1843 to 1889. He was passionate about suffrage, and after many decades of campaigning, the 1867 Reform Act was passed, giving the vote to working-class men, which was the beginning of full suffrage campaigns in the UK and here in Australia. It was in...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:48): I would also like to make a comment about the WA election and congratulate my sister party the Legalise Cannabis Western Australia Party for winning their first seat in the Legislative Council in Western Australia. I very much look forward to working with them and sharing our knowledge.  

Fiona Patten MP Leader of Reason Member for Northern Metropolitan Region Members statement 17/3/21

  ...

  Ms PATTEN: On Monday I was so proud to be one of the tens of thousands of women who came together across the country for the Women’s March 4 Justice to say, ‘Enough’. It was an emotional day, but there was such a strong feeling of solidarity. We saw women from the second wave joining women from the third wave of feminism, women from the second wave wondering why we are still marching for equality and why we are still marching to be safe in the streets. We are simply sick of having to highlight these issues. We are entitled...

  Ms PATTEN: I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Maria Spadaro, who died tragically after being struck by a car on Aberdeen Street in Reservoir on 16 February. She had lived in Reservoir since migrating from Italy in 1965. She is deeply missed and was a stalwart at the Preston Market as well as the Broadway markets. After her grandmother’s death, Teresa Hermence was stunned by the outpouring of grief for Maria. I never realised how loved she was until I went to the street where the accident happened and someone from every single house came...

  Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:49): Today I rise to congratulate the Penington Institute, Australia’s leading independent voice of reason on drug policy, on the launch of their new community and peer education campaign to address the evolving health risks faced by people who use drugs in the context of COVID-19. The campaign, delivered in collaboration with Harm Reduction Victoria, has been developed following extensive consultation with people who use drugs, frontline workers and research experts. The first set of resources launched has a focus on GHB, an increasing source of drug-related harm around Australia. Education is the key to reducing...

 

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (10:09): I rise today in support and praise of protesters from Stand Together for Justice and other groups who have been instrumental in helping gain the release of 26 refugees from detention here in Melbourne. These legal refugees spent a year in a hotel in Preston and many years prior to that in detention before being transferred to a city hotel where each night at 5.00 pm protesters met to rally for their cause. At the end of January all men were granted bridging visas, finally.

There have, however, been...

Ms PATTEN: I would also like to take this moment to thank everyone in the Council for what has been an incredibly difficult year. I hope that you all have some really good downtime over Christmas, over the holidays. Your communities will all be hoping to do the same. I hope that my community in the Northern Metropolitan gets a good break because, jeez, 2020 has been tough, and I look forward to 2021.

Fiona Patten MP
Leader of Reason
Member for Northern Metropolitan...

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (09:46): Last week I joined the member for Mildura, Ali Cupper, in her electorate to announce a new way of doing politics in Victoria. As is well understood, this house makes decisions that affect all Victorians, and I think we can all agree that it is good to have friends. Under our new coalition agreement, Ali will be the deputy leader of Reason and will mould our new Reason for the Regions policy platform. She will now represent the evidence-based facts-first policy approach of the Reason Party in the Legislative Assembly...