‘Big Shift’ as Australian State Moves to Decriminalise Public Drunkenness

Police union lambasts decision

Racegoers following the running of the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia on Nov. 1, 2022. AAP Image/Con Chronis

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has defended the state’s new public drunkenness laws arguing that the move to decriminalise public intoxication will not add an extra burden for police officers—despite unions arguing otherwise.

“Will it be easy? No. Of course, it’s a big shift,” the premier said on April 13.

“This is a reform that is long overdue.”

Meanwhile, Wayne Gatt, chief executive of the Police Association of Victoria, panned the new laws saying it will leave officers with insufficient powers.

“From here on, if a person is found drunk in public and causing a nuisance, or compromising the safety of those around them, police can’t deal with them. Our members have been stripped of the power to remove these people from the situation they are in, and the potential danger that emanates,” Gatt said in a statement.

“Without police and other resources, ambulance officers will primarily shoulder this burden.”

Victoria Police Association Secretary Wayne Gatt speaks to the media outside of the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on July 11, 2022. AAP Image/James Ross

Under Victoria’s “Summary Offences Amendment (Decriminalisation of Public Drunkenness) Bill 2020”—which will come into effect on Nov. 7, coinciding with the Melbourne Cup—members of the police force will no longer have the power to arrest or serve infringement notices to a person found drunk, or if found drunk and behaving disorderly in a public place.

This also includes riding a bicycle while drunk, as well as “behaving in a riotous or disorderly manner while drunk in a public place.”

“Its repeal is consistent with decriminalising public drunkenness,” the Bill’s Explanatory Memorandum (pdf) states, and is “broadly consistent with the intent of the [Expert Reference Group] to move from a justice to a health-based response to public drunkenness.”

“It paves the way for public drunkenness to be treated as a health issue, not a crime,” according to a 2021 media release by the Andrews government.

Instead, public drunkenness will be treated as a medical issue where drunk people will be given access to outreach services such as sobering-up centres.

Delayed Due to the Pandemic

The Bill was originally set to be enforced in 2022 but was delayed to this year due to the pandemic.

“These laws have been informed by Aboriginal communities and health experts—who have advocated for this reform for decades—and enable the government to move to a culturally safe and appropriate model that prioritises the health and safety of individuals who are intoxicated in public, as well as the broader community,” according to the state government.

In 2019, the Expert Reference Group (ERG) was appointed by the Andrews government to provide advice on decriminalising public drunkenness following the death of Tanya Day, an Indigenous Yorta Yorta woman, after she was held in police custody in 2017 on a charge of public drunkenness.

The result of the ERG appointment saw 86 recommendations provided to the state government.

The new laws brings Victoria in line with the rest of Australia, except for Queensland where being drunk in public remains a criminal offence.

Decriminalising Public Intoxication ‘Plain Stupid’: Union

While Victoria Police supports the health-based approach under the Bill, the CEO of the Victoria Police Association Wayne Gatt said the changes provide little leeway for officers to act, especially in regional areas.

“That’s just plain stupid, and that’s just going to be a recipe for disaster,” Gatt said. “It may not be on the first day, but at some point somewhere, someone will be injured and hurt as a result, and we'll sadly have to say we told you so.”

“What is clear from tender documents is that the framework that’s being proposed at this stage is not an equivalent one across the entire state.

“So what our members in regional Victoria will do post-November when they encounter public intoxication, as they indeed do most days, is entirely unclear to us.”

Yet Premier Andrews said if a drunk person was at risk to themselves or others, there would still be options for police intervention.

“We have consistently given the chief commissioner the powers, the resources and the resolve that he needs to fight crime and keep our communities safe,” he said.

“This is not about crime. This is about a health-led response instead of a criminal justice-led response because we know what that ends up with—it ends up with tragedy.”

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews speaks at a media conference in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 24, 2021. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Opposition Leader John Pesutto said the state government was implementing the reform without the necessary support.

“It’s clear that in starting this new scheme on November 7—Melbourne Cup day—it couldn’t be a worse time to commence that process,” he told reporters on April 13.

The Andrews government has opened the tender process for health-led services to deal with public drunkenness, with applications to close in May.

The state government has also committed to having a dedicated Aboriginal service in metropolitan Melbourne, including 10 in regional and outer-suburban locations.

While the volume of intake, referral, and dispatch calls is forecasted to be as high as 1,000 per month, services have been told actual demand will depend on policing protocols and community uptake.