The law change follows campaigning by First Nations communities and the family of Aunty Tanya Day.
It’s also in line with recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody more than 30 years ago and coroners’ court reports in the decades following.
The decriminalisation of public drunkenness follows a number of deaths of people in custody for being drunk in public.
One of those was Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day.
The Victorian Government committed to decriminalising public drunkenness at the start of an inquest into her 2017 death.
Ms Day was arrested for public drunkenness and taken to Castlemaine Police Station after falling asleep on a train from Echuca to Melbourne.
A coronial inquest found police did not carry out the required checks while she was in the cell, and it took three hours after she hit her head on the concrete wall of the cell for an ambulance to be called.
A coroner found her death was preventable.
Ms Day’s family has previously said that her case showed that police cells were unsafe places and that no person should be locked up in a police cell for being drunk in a public place.
The government said the law change shifted authorities’ reaction to public drunkenness from a criminal approach to a health response.
Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt said for most people, that would be their own home or that of a family member, friend or carer, while for others, it may be a staffed place of safety or sobering centre.
The government is prioritising First Nations services due to the disproportionate impact public intoxication laws and police interactions have on their communities.
“For too long, we have seen First Nations Victorians disproportionately affected by current laws and too many tragic outcomes when they are in custody — simply being intoxicated in a public place should not be a crime,” Ms Stitt said.
“These health-led reforms strike a balance between supporting people who are intoxicated and community safety, and while there is always more work to do to close the gap for vulnerable people in our community, this reform will undoubtedly change and save lives.”
Dedicated services will support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across eight key areas of need in regional Victoria.
The locations and lead service providers are:
- Geelong – Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative
- Ballarat – Ballarat and Districts Aboriginal Cooperative
- Bendigo – Bendigo and District Aboriginal Cooperative
- Shepparton – Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooperative
- Mildura – Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation, supported by Mildura Base Hospital
- Swan Hill – Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation
- Latrobe – Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation
- East Gippsland – Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation
There will also be 24/7 outreach services available for the general public across Melbourne and a sobering centre in Collingwood, both to be delivered by cohealth.
Across Melbourne, Frankston and Wyndham, Aboriginal outreach services will be operated by Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation (Ngwala), providing support to Aboriginal Victorians who are intoxicated in public and, if needed, transporting them to a safe place or the dedicated sobering centre in St Kilda.
All regional and metropolitan services will be co-ordinated by a centralised service, run by the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service.
The government has committed more than $120 million to support the reforms.
12°C