Upper house dealmaker and Reason Party leader Fiona Patten concedes defeat

Reason Party leader Fiona Patten has conceded defeat in the upper house after last month’s state election, a day before the Victorian Electoral Commission is expected to declare final results for the Legislative Council.

Patten, who has been a champion of social reforms in Victoria, has represented the Northern Metropolitan region for eight years, since the 2014 election.

Reason Party leader and upper house MP Fiona Patten has conceded defeat in the 2022 state election.Credit:Justin McManus

“I’d like to congratulate the successful candidates for the region and indeed all successful candidates in the November 26 Victorian election,” Patten said in a statement on Monday.

“Sadly, I will not be joining them in the 60th parliament.”

Final results for the upper house are not expected until Tuesday or Wednesday. But ousted Labor MP Adem Somyurek, who moved to the Democratic Labour Party after The Age reported on allegations of branch stacking, is on track to take the final seat in the Northern Metropolitan region.

Patten’s re-election in 2018 seemed unlikely until the VEC distributed all preferences more than two weeks after election day, narrowly returning her to parliament.

In the days after the 2018 poll, Premier Daniel Andrews told the ABC he would offer Patten a job if she was not re-elected because her absence would be such a loss to parliament.

Patten has been key to social reforms in Victoria over the last eight years. She championed buffer zones for abortion clinics to keep protesters away from patients and staff, and backed the supervised injecting room and voluntary assisted dying laws.

“My biggest regrets were that I could not get legalisation of cannabis over the line and that my bill to outlaw preference harvesting did not succeed,” Patten said on Monday.

She thanked Reason Party staff and volunteers.

“They share in the legislative changes achieved, as do so many outside my office. I am forever grateful to the many organisations and individuals who campaigned for change in Victoria alongside us. We have a lot of which to be proud.”

Patten said she had “homework” for the successful candidates.

She said the parliament needed to change the recital of the lord’s prayer to be more secular, review caps on electoral expenditure, establish a portfolio to end loneliness and respond to the parliamentary inquiries into the criminal justice system, the use of cannabis and homelessness.

Patten, who revealed she had been diagnosed with kidney cancer two months ago, said she would continue advocating for those changes.

“While the official result is disappointing for me, it has been such an uplifting, enlightening privilege to serve the voters of this vast and diverse population, and to have achieved progressive change. I certainly won’t die wondering.

“I would like to thank the voters for giving me an extraordinary eight years as a lawmaker. I tried every day to make things a little better and fairer. I was honoured to be welcomed to so many parts of so many communities.

“I’ll pick myself up (after a bit of rest, recovery, and a short course in chemo) and will continue to fight for decent change, in one way or another, as I always have.”

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