https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/karmakoalapodcast/episodes/2025-02-26T06_45_41-08_00
Along with my other hero of drug law reform in Australia, Michael Balderstone, Fiona has stood up for and shouted from the rooftops about sensible drug law reform with a emphasis on health and good policy for nigh on 3 decades.
As you’ll see from her bio below she’s talked about and advocated for change much longer than most of us have even thought about it.
She’s returned to the fray and brought her political knowledge, skills and expertise to try and gain a seat in the Australian Senate in the upcoming federal election for the cannabis party and they are more than lucky to have her.
Not many can engineer change, she is one of those has has done it repeatedly in the past and is probably the best opportunity that cannabis has in this generation of the ongoing campaign.
I wanted to catch this moment in time with her and she graciously agreed to appear on our rather DIY podcast to discuss the political history of cannabis in Australia since the late 60′, early 70’s, what let her to drug law reform policy and what her hopes are if she can get elected and how she intends to work in order to effect legislative change that can then allow the states to get down to brass tacks and actually create a workable system that balances medical and adult use as well as homegrow in Australia.
Imagine that!
Thankyou again to Fiona and enjoy the podcast.
FIONA PATTEN CANDIDATE FOR VICTORIA
Meet Our Lead Senate Candidate for Victoria
We are delighted to announce our lead Senate candidate for Victoria, Fiona Patten who will be known to many of you. She was first elected to Victoria’s State Parliament in 2014 and re-elected for a second term in 2018.
During those eight years she was a champion for social justice and cannabis law reform. She established a medicinal cannabis taskforce in the first major attempt to fix the ridiculous RDT laws and then was the driving force behind the Inquiry into the Use of Cannabis in Victoria.
..and she was the first political party leader to admit using cannabis regularly to relax!
“I went into parliament in 2014 as the first MP to speak about using cannabis. Cannabis reform has always been high on my to do list and is unfinished business for me. To open up law reform in the states we need to change the federal law and I intend to do just that”. Fiona Patten
Fiona Heather Patten (born May 1964) is an Australian politician. She was the leader of Reason Australia (also known as the Reason Party) and was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council between 2014 and 2022, representing the Northern Metropolitan Region, until she lost her seat at the 2022 state election.
Patten established the Australian Sex Party in 2009 to focus on personal freedoms after deep frustration with stagnation on censorship, freedom, marriage equality and drug law reform. On 22 August 2017, it was announced that the Australian Sex Party would be changing its name to the Reason Party.[1][2][3]
Before entering politics, Patten was the CEO of Australia’s national adult industry association, Eros Association. She championed sexual rights and health movements for more than 20 years, particularly on HIV/AIDS, after initially starting out as a small business owner with her own fashion label.
During her time as a Victorian MP, Patten has been credited for playing pivotal roles in achieving social reforms in Victoria, with examples including the passage of Victoria’s assisted dying legislation, the trial of a medically supervised drug injecting room in Richmond, relaxing laws for ride-share companies such as Uber and establishing buffer zones for abortion clinics to keep protesters away from patients and staff.[4][5]
According to The Age, between November 2018 and November 2021, Patten voted with the Andrews Government’s position 74.3% of the time, the second-most of any Legislative Council crossbencher, behind only Andy Meddick of the Animal Justice Party.[6]
In March 2024, Patten announced that she was deregistering Reason Australia.[7]
In August 2024, it was announced that Fiona Patten will be the lead Senate candidate of Legalise Cannabis Australia (also known as the Legalise Cannabis Party) in Victoria at the 2025 Australian federal election.[8][9]
Learn more about Fiona at Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiona_Patten
Also read
‘I want to win’: Fiona Patten calls on industry to get behind Senate campaign
