Fiona Patten 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.

Fiona was one of several crossbenchers who held the balance of power in Victoria’s Upper House. She was an active and highly effective MP who was 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

During her time in parliament, Fiona was the only Independent Member to Chair a Parliamentary Committee. As Chair of the Legal and Social Issues Committee Fiona oversaw the Victorian Inquiry into Homelessness and led the Victorian Cannabis Use Inquiry. The Reason Party was also instrumental in the push to remove the Lord’s Prayer from Parliament and put forward a private members Bill to abolish the law of Blasphemy and launched a major piece of legislation to remove tax exemptions for religious organisations. Following lobbying from Fiona, a second Safe Injecting Room opened in Melbourne and has now been made permanent – this service saves scores of lives every year.