In this episode of The 9pm Probe, I visit Victoria’s Parliament House in Melbourne for a long chat with Fiona Patten MLC, leader and sole elected member of the Reason Party, formerly the Australian Sex Party.
Ms Patten has been on the podcast before, back in November 2016 for The 9pm Public House Forum 4 with science communicator Upulie Divisekera and journalist Sally White. But this time it’s just us, and some Parliamentary wine.
We talk about all manner of things, including elections, drugs, why the party changed its name, science versus religion, the 1979 South Australian Royal Commission into the non-medical use of drugs, Ronald Reagan, the gig economy, HIV, a rumour involving a Melbourne brothel, pseudo-profound bullshit, Donald Trump, radicalisation, and more drugs.
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This episode it’s thanks to all the regulars, but there hasn’t been anyone new since last time. You need to fix that, I reckon. Please.
Episode Links
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Fiona Patten is a Member for Northern Metropolitan Region in the Victorian Parliament’s Legislative Council. Leader of the Reason Party, Fiona was first elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2018.
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Fiona Heather Patten (born 6 May 1964) is an Australian politician. She is the leader of the Reason Party and has a seat in the Victorian Legislative Council, representing the Northern Metropolitan Region.
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Melbourne’s grandest public building is located in a position terminating the long vista up Bourke Street; the early date and monumental scale of the design indicates the huge aspirations of the young colony.
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In the 1850s gold discoveries in Victoria, in Beechworth, Castlemaine, Daylesford, Ballarat and Bendigo sparked gold rushes similar to the California Gold Rush.[6] At its peak some two tonnes of gold per week flowed into the Treasury Building in Melbourne.
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9 November 2016: A live podcast with Fiona Patten, Upulie Divisekera, and Sally Whyte.
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Yes Minister; At last, Jan Murray sets the record straight about the night in 1983 she made love to federal minister John Brown - her husband - on the desk of former Prime Minister John Curtin and left her lingerie as a calling card.
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In 1891, a precious medieval weapon was stolen from Victoria's Parliament, sparking one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in Australian history.
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Caroline Hodgson (1851 – 11 July 1908), also known as Madame Brussels, was a well-known brothel proprietor and local identity of the Little Lon district in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, during the late 19th century.
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It has little to do with feeding the hungry or turning cheeks, and everything to do with a “purpose-driven life”, answerable to the church
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison began his victory speech on Saturday with the words, “I have always believed in miracles”. This was no mere hyperbole. Morrison appeared to be declaring his belief that God had actively intervened in the political process to bring about his re-election.
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The God gene hypothesis proposes that human spirituality is influenced by heredity and that a specific gene, called vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2), predisposes humans towards spiritual or mystic experiences.
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A new study has found that people who buy into "pseudo-profound bullsh*t" – the researchers' words, not ours – are more likely to score on the low side for verbal and fluid intelligence, and are also more likely to believe in conspiracies and endorse alternative medicine.
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There's a distinct line between the truly profound and what sounds a bit like it might be profound. But isn't. And doesn't actually make any sense. At all.
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Resources for South Australia. Royal Commission into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs.
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The documents, obtained by the NSW Greens under Freedom of Information laws, reveal the NSW Police Force set a quota of 241,632 searches, including strip searches, for the 2019 financial year.
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I am a comedian, writer, blogger and podcaster and the world's premier semi-professional self-playing snooker player.
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Series Credits
- The 9pm Edict theme by mansardian via The Freesound Project.
- Edict fanfare by neonaeon, via The Freesound Project.
- Elephant Stamp theme by Joshua Mehlman.
[Photo: Fiona Pattern MLC seated in Parliament House, Melbourne, on 24 February 2020.]