Australian Humanist of the Year 2020

Humanists Australia and Human Rights

Fiona Patten was born in Canberra. She attended Hawker College and University of Canberra. Her working life began as a fashion designer in Canberra. Her political career began as an AIDS educator with ACT sex worker advocacy group, WISE. Her decision to run for political office came after 20 years of lobbying for the rights of small business owners, sexual health organisations, sexual freedoms and censorship reforms.

Fiona Patten is now a well-known and highly effective member of the Victorian Parliament and is Leader of the Reason Party, which is described as a future-focused, evidence-based movement committed to delivering equality, sustainability and freedom through new methods of political engagement and pragmatic consultation. She was elected in 2014 as a Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for the Northern Metropolitan region and is one of a number of crossbenchers who hold the balance of power in Victoria’s upper House.

As an extremely active and effective active MP Fiona has been successful in raising the following issues, which have resulted in either a parliamentary enquiry or legislative action.

Since her re-election in 2018, Ms Patten continued her work in a number of key areas. She is currently the only Independent Member to Chair a Parliamentary Committee. As Chair of the Legals 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 Ms Patten helped establish - a program that saves scores of lives every year.

Australian Humanists had the opportunity to hear and meet with Fiona when she was awarded 2020 Australian Humanist of the Year, and also when she was a speaker at the 2016 Annual Convention. She became a member of Humanist Society of Victoria in March 2019, and is now also an Ambassador of the National Secular Lobby.