Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill: Protecting the right to choose
Rachel spoke on the Voluntary Assisted Dying Amendment Bill 2025. Rachel acknowledges the evidence supporting individuals’ right to choose.
A Day of Reckoning for Institutions that Enable the Abuse of Children
Today, the Victorian Government introduced a bill to improve access to compensation for victim-survivors of institutional child abuse. It is our job as legislators to get the right outcome, and we commend the government for doing what we and countless have been calling for – the removal of absurd vicarious liability loopholes.
Cannabis for women’s pain management
During World Menopause Month, Rachel hosted a forum on women’s health in her electorate. The forum centred around the benefits of cannabis for managing pain symptoms from conditions including endometriosis and menopause. She noted the stigma that many women face when accessing or speaking about medicinal cannabis for pain management, as opposed to other medications such as opioids.
Bring back drug infringement trial
Rachel asked if the government would consider bringing back a drug infringement trial that was previously proposed in 2022. With the guidance of an expert panel and working group, the drug infringement trial would have seen those caught with small quantities of drugs referred to education and/or treatment rather than incarceration. Not unlike the recommendations from the inquiry into cannabis law reform, this proposal has since been abandoned.
Meningococcal B Vaccine
Rachel provided a written question to the Minister for Health, asking if the government will consider providing free community access to the life-saving Meningococcal vaccine.
Families left behind after VARTA dissolution
Rachel asked for assurance that donor-conceived children and their families will no longer be left behind following the dissolution of Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA).
Calls for renewed funding for supported independent living
Rachel asked a question on behalf of a constituent, who supports residents with disability at a Supported Independent Living (SIL) facility in Noble Park. With state funding for SIL set to run out at the end of this year, the future of accommodation and employment for these residents and their support workers is uncertain.
Secure employment for nursing graduates
Rachel asked the Minister for Health to release emergency funding to ensure that nursing and midwifery graduates can secure employment.
In Conversation: Women’s Health and Cannabis
On Wednesday the 8th of October, Rachel hosted a community health forum ‘In Conversation: Exploring Women’s Health and Cannabis’. From menstrual pain to menopause, cannabis is changing the conversation around women’s health. Watch Rachel and expert panellists, Tegan Scates and Lisa Nguyen, put the misinformation aside and talk about the science, stigma, and lived experience of women who use cannabis.
Cannabis criminalisation: Arresting our community’s most vulnerable
Rachel asked a question on behalf of a constituent. Like so many others, Rachel’s constituent uses cannabis for pain management. Given the Government’s recent rejection of cannabis reform recommendations, Rachel inquired on the criminalisation of vulnerable community members.