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...

  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...

  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....

  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...

  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....

  Ms PATTEN: Just quickly on another matter, I was unable to attend the annual MardiGrass festival in Nimbin last weekend, but I did hear it was a great success and cannabis activists from around the country came together for a united call for action on drug law reform. I would like to make a special shout-out to the New South Wales police, who yet again decided to target the event through their so-called random drug tests, where they stopped every single car—randomly—going to the festival. It is yet again another massive overreach from the New South Wales authorities.  

Fiona Patten...