Fiona Patten is a highly effective member of the Victorian Parliament. She was elected in 2014 as a Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for the Northern Metropolitan region and re-elected in 2018. She is one of a number of crossbenchers who hold the balance of power in Victoria’s Upper House.
Fiona is Leader of the Reason Party, described as a future-focused, evidence-based movement committed to delivering equality, sustainability and freedom through new methods of political engagement and pragmatic consultation.
As an active MP Fiona has been successful in raising the following issues, which have resulted in either a parliamentary enquiry or legislative action:
- Safe Exclusion Zones around abortion clinics
- Australia’s largest public inquiry into drug law reform
- The establishment of online e-petitions to Parliament
- Transforming the transport industry through Ridesharing Legislation
- A trial for Victoria’s first medically supervised injecting centre
- Voluntary Assisted Dying Legislation
- Spent Convictions Scheme
Fiona is currently the only Independent Member to Chair a Parliamentary Committee. As Chair of the Legal and Social Issues Committee Fiona is currently overseeing the Victorian Inquiry into Homelessness and is preparing to lead the Victorian Cannabis Use Inquiry. The Reason Party has also been instrumental in the push to remove the Lord’s Prayer from Parliament, has put forward a private members Bill to abolish the law of Blasphemy and is preparing to launch a major piece of legislation that will remove tax exemptions for religious organisations. Following lobbying from Fiona, a second Safe Injecting Room will open in Melbourne – a project Fiona helped establish that saves scores of lives every year.
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