Australia 21
Mar 22, 2017
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) — I rise to congratulate the think tank Australia21 on their powerful report launched on Monday, Can Australia Respond to Drugs More Effectively and Safely?. Drug-related deaths, diseases, injuries, crimes and social costs continue to rise despite more than 80 000 arrests in Australia each year. Now four former police commissioners and assistant commissioners, two former heads of corrective services, a former Supreme Court judge and a former Director of Public Prosecutions have made history by putting their names to a report that says it is time for decriminalisation.
The report was launched by Jeff Kennett, a former Liberal Premier...
International Women’s Day
Mar 8, 2017
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) — Thank you, Ms Fitzherbert. That was a fantastic contribution. Happy International Women's Day to you too.
I would like also to reflect on the significance of this day, both globally and at home. Women across the globe are still facing unimaginable barriers that we would never think of in Australia. When listening to a woman on the radio this morning, I was struck by her comment that she was celebrating International Women's Day because she was born, because she had received an education and because she had the opportunity to make a living. It is easy to forget...
Supervised injecting centre
Feb 23, 2017
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) — I rise today to acknowledge the many contributors to the public debate on having a medically supervised injecting centre in North Richmond. There have been many people, but I would just like to single out a few of them in particular: Judy Ryan, a resident in North Richmond, for her tireless work in her community and her strong advocacy in the media and down on the streets; Cherie Short, who bravely shared her very personal story of the loss of her son Aaron; Danny Hill and Steve McGhie from Ambulance Employees Australia, for their insight and...
Supervised injecting facilities
Feb 9, 2017
Ms PATTEN — I rise to thank the 48 individual signatories for their open letter in support of a medically supervised injecting centre trial published in today's Herald Sun. I also would like to thank the Chief Commissioner of Police, Graham Ashton, who this morning announced on radio that if a medically safe injecting centre was to become government policy, he would support it.
Right now, people are injecting drugs on the streets, in car parks, doorways, lanes and toilets, and on Monday I saw someone openly injecting. A medically supervised injecting centre would clean up our streets. This is about law and...
AFL Women’s league
Jan 9, 2017
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) — I too was fortunate enough to attend the Carlton-Collingwood football match on Friday night, and it was an amazing experience. I was sitting behind the goalposts. Fortunately as both teams are in my region, I was able to cheer for every goal....
LGBTI equality
Dec 8, 2016
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) — This week I have been saddened, as many of my constituents are, going by the emails I have received, to listen to the bigotry, disdain and discrimination we witnessed in this chamber against the LGBTI community. I would like to pledge my ongoing support and empathy for that community, their families and their friends. I will continue to fight against the stigma that was all too apparent in the debates this week....
End-of-life choices
Dec 8, 2016
Ms PATTEN — On a happier note, I would like to talk about death. This week Victoria will make a historic move to legalise physician-assisted dying. I certainly made that one of my challenges to achieve in my term, and I mentioned this in my maiden speech, when I also paid homage to the late Peter Short, who was a campaigner on physician-assisted dying. My thoughts also go to my father-in-law, Jim Swan, who died a couple of months ago. He was a World War II veteran who offered up his life for this country, but sadly we were not able to...
SEXPO
Nov 23, 2016
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) — I rise today with an offer to the members of this house in my statement. SEXPO, the health, sexuality and lifestyle exhibition, commences tomorrow at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and is running until Sunday. As another auspicious anniversary, it is almost to the day 20 years since it held its first show in Kings Way in an exhibition space next to the chartered accountants annual conference. It has now been held 65 times around Australia, generated millions of dollars of revenue for host cities and created thousands of jobs, in particular here in Victoria where it...
Hares & Hyenas
Nov 10, 2016
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) — I would like to congratulate Melbourne's internationally renowned sexuality and gender diverse bookshop, cafe and performance venue, Hares & Hyenas, for winning Best Venue at the Melbourne Fringe Awards 2016. Beating 171 contenders, the performance space, called the Hare Hole, is celebrated for not censoring artists and providing an unparalleled venue for free expression that has hosted more than 1000 events. Proprietors and partners Rowland Thomson and Crusader Hillis — who works at Hansard here — say they were punks in the 1970s and 1980s and in 1991 channelled their life experience to set out to establish a space where...
Islamic Museum of Australia
Nov 10, 2016
Ms PATTEN — I would also like to congratulate the Islamic Museum of Australia for its Coffee with Sherene outreach program, which allows anyone to attend and ask questions about religion, politics or issues of the day. The event was very well attended with nearly 100 people, and following the open discussion session there were tours of its fantastic art museum and culture exhibits....