Andrea Dawkins MP | Greens Primary Industries spokesperson
The Victorian government have shown us what true leadership looks like when it comes to medicinal cannabis. Premier Hodgman could learn a lot from Premier Andrews' compassionate and swift action.
Premier Hodgman should be doing everything he can to follow in his Victorian counterpart's footsteps. It's the compassionate and commonsense approach, and the Premier must stand up to his Cabinet and party colleagues and do the right thing.
Victoria has followed the successful Spanish and Israeli models, and their laws will see children with severe epilepsy able to access the treatment.
There are Tasmanian children who need the same treatment and whose parents are currently faced with breaking the law to help them, that's not good enough.
A real leader speaks for their community and makes strong decisions to protect and help them. What we've seen from the Hodgman government is anything but strength and compassion, they've done nothing but stall on medicinal cannabis.
The Liberals have done everything they can to avoid leadership on this issue. They introduced an amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act that would allow medicinal cannabis to be legally used, but when the Greens revealed this to them in Parliament, they hastily backed away and redrafted it.
Victoria has illustrated just how easy this health reform can be without a Premier who is flanked by conservatives and their agenda.
It's time Premier Hodgman stood up to his conservative colleagues and did the right thing on medicinal cannabis.