FIONA PATTEN: the former sex worker reflects on her remarkable path to Victorian politics
Fiona Patten was doing a live radio interview from Canada when she made a startling confession, for a politician. While chatting about her research of the legalised marijuana industry in Vancouver, Melbourne talkback radio king Neil Mitchell asked, “So did you try it?” At first there was an uncomfortable silence during which you could almost feel listeners inching closer to their radios as she stumbled towards an answer. “Well…ah…” she began, “yes, yes I did.”
There aren’t too many politicians in Australia who have openly confessed to smoking marijuana, let alone admitted, as she did, that she was still “a little refreshed” during her interview on 3AW with one of Australia’s toughest broadcasters. But this was Fiona Patten, founder of the Sex Party, and in that singular and slightly hazy moment shared with hundreds of thousands of people, she showed exactly why she has surprised her critics since her shock election to the Victorian parliament in 2014.
“I was a little ‘refreshed’ when I did that interview, it was quite late in the evening over there and yes, I had partaken,” Fiona says. “But I was on a personal holiday at the time,” she adds, at pains to point out she wasn’t part of an official parliamentary delegation.
“My life is an open book. I’ve had a diverse background and I’m sure there’s some who judge me for it but I couldn’t care less. I am very honest about my life and there’s a lovely freedom that comes with that, I’m not looking over my shoulder worrying about what might appear in the papers, it’s all out there. It must be quite nerve-racking for some politicians constantly wondering when their secrets will be revealed! I think I’ve shocked people and I think they’ve realised that I’m not some maniac, but it’s taken a while for people to gel.”
In a world of spin and politicians so governed by polls they’re not game to veer off script, the straighttalking former prostitute and sex industry lobbyist is regarded as a breath of fresh air and because of it, her political stocks are well and truly on the rise.
“She’s refreshing because she’s different and she brings an authenticity,” says Neil. “When she was elected, the mainstream MPs thought she was a bit of a joke. Now they’re all taking her seriously.”
After five unsuccessful attempts to get elected, Fiona was pinching herself when, on the eve of Christmas 2014, she was finally sworn in to represent the Sex Party in the Victorian Upper House. As she stood in the chamber, proudly taking
her affirmation of office, a fellow MP was sending scurrilous text messages suggesting Patten was being sworn in on a vibrator instead of a Bible. She laughed it off and refused to let the “childish” antics take the gloss off the moment, but clearly, for some, her presence in Parliament was a novelty.
Fast forward six months and no one was laughing when she rose in Parliament again, this time to present a private member’s bill to introduce safe access zones around abortion clinics. Over the months that followed, the newly minted MP achieved what many long-timers couldn’t – she united warring factions from all sides of politics to introduce laws that banned protestors from harassing women visiting abortion clinics. The bill is now law.
Next to tick off her to-do list was the establishment of a public inquiry into drug law reform and supporting a trial for Victoria’s first medically supervised injecting centre, but perhaps her proudest moment to date is her role in the passage of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill, making Victoria the first Australian state to legalise euthanasia.
“We wouldn’t have got the bill up if it wasn’t for her efforts. She was crucial to its success,” says TV host and euthanasia advocate Andrew Denton, who holds Fiona in the highest regard. They worked closely for more than 12 months to bring the bill to Parliament and formed a solid friendship along the way. Andrew was in the chamber when the bill finally passed after a marathon 28-hour sitting, during which one politician collapsed.
“Politically she was so good at dealing with MPs from all sides and parties and she was able to bring people together for honest, frank and often very emotional discussions,” he says. “She found a way to connect with everyone at every level and they listened to her. It was obvious that people from all sides of politics respected her and the way she went about things. She is incredibly impressive and she’s achieved more in one term than many politicians will in a lifetime.”
It’s not hard to see why Fiona Patten is making a mark. As we wander through the halls of Victoria’s stately Parliament House, she effortlessly greets everyone by name, from clerks to security staff and fellow MPs. In the dining room, she enquires about the concierge’s family with a familiarity that is obviously not just for show, and not a single person passes by the table without stopping to say hello.
Over lunch, squeezed in between a busy schedule of committee meetings, she orders a glass of wine and happily chats about her time working as a prostitute, her unusual open marriage, and that interview with Neil Mitchell. There are no minders or media advisers vetting questions and answers, nothing’s off limits and Fiona’s story is indeed colourful. She’s just put the finishing touches on a tell-all memoir, Sex, Drugs and the Electoral Roll, which will shed more light on just how she went from being a quiet Canberra schoolgirl who harboured dreams of being a nun to the public face of the sex industry.
“Well, yes, that is quite a story!” she laughs. “My father was in the navy and we moved around a lot, we were never in one place more than two years and lived in the UK and US, so I guess I was becoming quite worldly from a young age. It wasn’t your regular upbringing.”
When the family eventually returned to Canberra, Fiona studied design and created her own fashion label, Body Politics. Many of her clients were sex workers and she took a keen interest in the lives of her clientele. In 1990, when the business began to struggle during the ‘recession we had to have’, she was offered a role with Workers in Sex Employment travelling around brothels teaching prostitutes about HIV and safe sex. She vividly recalls the night she “jumped the counter”.
“I was at a parlour called Tiffany’s and they needed someone to service a client, so I thought I’d give it a go. I put my hand up and said, ‘I’ll do it,’ and that was that. It was very easy
‘No one would take any notice of the Truly Sensible Party, would they.”
and I made good money. You do sex work for money because it’s a very well-paid job. I was young, single and free, so really having sex for something other than love wasn’t something I was unfamiliar with, but,” she adds, “it’s much easier talking about this in the past tense because I was living a double life, and keeping up a double life is very hard. I couldn’t confide in many people, certainly not my family.”
It was more a short-term flirtation than a career but with the sex industry growing, she identified a need for someone to protect the workers’ rights. Advocacy came naturally, so she joined forces with porn lobbyist Robbie Swan to form the EROS Foundation. They united outside the office too and remain a couple today. However, Fiona lives in Melbourne, Robbie in Canberra and both have had long term ‘friendships’ with other people.
“It’s perfect, it’s a lovely relationship,” she says, casually sipping her wine. “Robbie likes being on the farm, meditating and writing and I like being in the city in the thick of things. We’re both very happy.”
In 2009 they created the Australian Sex Party in response to then Labor Senator Stephen Conroy’s proposal to introduce an internet filter that would block the downloading of legal pornography. Fiona is a clever marketer and knew that the Sex
Party name would instantly grab headlines. Their political stunts regularly made the news and their “cheap ploy paid off … No one would take any notice of the Truly Sensible Party, would they,” she jokes.
She ran for the federal seat of Higgins in the 2009 by-election following the resignation of Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello. Kelly O’Dwyer won the seat, but the Sex Party had made its mark by using humour to tap into a rebellious Aussie spirit.
“The Sex Party was a great headline but there’s much more to Fiona Patten,” says Andrew Denton. “If it was just a stunt she would’ve been found out well and truly by now and she wouldn’t last.
“She has a great sense of fun and an ability to laugh at herself, but at the same time, she knows her stuff and she’s incredibly well researched – she’s not to be underestimated. I watched her in Parliament, she’s got a very personal, gentle style and although she’s got a light footprint, she fights hard when she needs to.”
In media terms, the radio real estate of Melbourne broadcaster Neil Mitchell is prized turf. He dominates the ratings and his invitation to Fiona to regularly appear on his show was something of a coup and signalled that her work and her influence were now being recognised.
“She always gets a big reaction,” Neil says. “The audience responds well to her because she’s authentic in her approach, she doesn’t waffle and she’s a reasonably straight talker – for an MP! She’s a pretty savvy operator and I’m impressed by the way she’s picked up tough issues and taken them on, not shied away. She pushes issues others won’t because they’re too frightened and I admire her for that.”
As one of five crossbenchers in a whisker-tight Parliament, Fiona has become a very powerful woman.
Quite often she will have the deciding vote on whether an amendment or piece of legislation gets up. She’s established strong relationships with her cross-bench colleagues, including the devoutly religious and deeply conservative Rachel Carling-Jenkins.
Many predicted fireworks between the two, as their views are “polar opposite”. On the contrary, Fiona says they have forged a strong working relationship, particularly since Rachel revealed in an extraordinary speech
to Parliament that her former husband had been convicted of possessing child pornography.
“I spoke with her afterwards,”
Fiona says. “I think I’m one of the only people in Parliament who would have also witnessed child porn material – it so deeply shocking, it never leaves you – so we connected in a very different way. What happened to her was beyond awful and I applaud her honesty and courage.
“It’s not a relationship that people expected at all but she’s a genuinely nice person and she genuinely cares for people. I don’t agree with many things she says but I respect her and I think we understand each other.”
In November, Victorians will go to the polls and despite her success,
Fiona faces a tough battle to retain her seat. In response, she’s changed her party’s name to the Reason Party, because she feels the novelty has worn off the Sex Party and it is too narrow a focus. Affordable housing, homelessness and youth crime are hotbed issues that she wants the Reason Party to tackle, but she insists she hasn’t lost her sense of humour and win, lose or draw, she’ll have the last laugh.
Last Christmas she sent each of her colleagues a card with a pro-drugs pamphlet tucked inside. “It was an old pharmacy leaflet Robbie and I found from the 1940s – a time when cannabis was legal, heroin was legal and cocaine was legal by prescription – it was very Sullivans looking,” she says. The card and booklet were met with giggles by all but one MP, who abruptly returned the envelope with stern instructions, “you can keep the propaganda”.
“I offered that MP a joint once – I thought it might help their demeanour, but the offer was sadly declined,” says Fiona, grinning.
“I never imagined this would be a long career and it is going to be very hard to win my seat again, but if
I only serve one term, so be it. We’ve achieved a lot in a short time and
I’m really proud of what I’ve been able to do. I’ll be happy knowing that I’ve successfully pissed off both sides of Parliament and given the place a shake-up.”
Ironically, she credits her time as a sex worker for many of the skills that have brought success in her parliamentary career. “When you do sex work, egos leave the room. When a man comes in to pay for sex, he’s left bare. It’s a very honest transaction because everyone knows what they’re getting and there’s a level of frankness in that. It teaches you to treat everyone with honesty and respect and to take them at face value, and that’s a good skill to have in any profession.”
Despite being “an open book”, there are undoubtedly still a few cards tucked up her sleeve. During our lunch-hour interview, we don’t quite get to the bottom of why she wanted to become a nun, but I suspect she’s saving that story for her soon-to-be-released memoir. When I ask what readers can expect, she teases that “she’s dusted off the black list”, but I’m not convinced she’s the type to kiss and tell, and regardless, the most exciting chapter of Fiona Patten’s life may yet to be written if she wins a second term in Parliament.
“I sincerely hope she wins her seat again,” says Andrew Denton, “because she’s the sort of MP who gives politicians a good name and we need more like her.” AWW
Sex, Drugs and the Electoral Roll will be published by Allen & Unwin in September.
‘We’ve achieved a lot. I’m really proud of what I’ve been able to do.’