Victoria is woefully underprepared to abolish the crime of public drunkenness, say police, doctors and community groups who are sounding the alarm over a dearth of services slated for outer Melbourne and the regions.
the laws disproportionately impacted Indigenous people. The changes come 30 years after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
The landmark legislation was triggered by the death of Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day in police custody.Ambulance Victoria attended more than 20,000 callouts for alcohol-only intoxication in the 2021-22 financial year, according to the most recent available data compiled by addiction research centre Turning Point. A third of those callouts were in regional Victoria.
A Victorian government spokesman said the government was committed to decriminalising public drunkenness because a police cell is not the place to sober up. Given there won’t be any dedicated services to non-Indigenous people in regional Victoria, questions remain over how it will be implemented, and what help will be provided to a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people found drunk in public. The government said non-Aboriginal services providers will not be required to provide services to non-Aboriginal people.
“The government has pulled the rug out from police who are ultimately going to be called but have no powers to deal with the situation,” Gatt said. “The government’s response for people who are sad and vulnerable when drunk to be taken to sobering-up centres is good, and we’re supportive of that,” Healey said.
“That will require more planning, more humans, more infrastructure resources – we’re talking about big changes, but are we getting the resources to build capacity? No,” Biondo said.
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