There is a temporary six-bed sobering-up service on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy operated by cohealth. Apermanent 20-bed facility in Collingwood,also operated by cohealth,has not been completed in time for the repeal of the public drunkenness law and is due to open later this month.
Other key aspects of the changes are behind schedule – only four of the 10 cohealth vans will be up and running as staff undertake training.
Aboriginal outreach services provided by Ngwala Willumbong will start on Tuesday in Melbourne,Frankston and Wyndham to assist intoxicated First Nations people,and may transport people to the St Kilda sobering-up centre in vans with staff in high-vis uniforms.
The cohealth outreach teams will either approach people who need assistance on the street or be dispatched after being contacted by emergency services. The teams can provide health assistance,which includes a breath test,only if people consent. If people are violent or too sick to consent,they will still be handled by police or paramedics.
If taken to the sobering-up services,people will be offered food,water,medical oversight and a place to sleep for up to 12 hours,after which they may be transported home or referred to other services.
Minister for Mental Health Ingrid Stitt said that despite the delays,she was confident there were enough resources to handle the first day of the law repeal and that very few people would be affected by the change.
“I’d point you to the figures from last year’s Melbourne Cup day,which only saw five individuals across the state arrested for public intoxication,” she said.
Victoria is the second to last jurisdiction to decriminalise public drunkenness,leaving Queensland as the only state where the law remains.
First suggested as a reform in the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody,the Victorian government committed to repealing public drunkenness laws in 2019 after a campaign from the family ofYorta Yorta woman Tanya Day,who died in police custody in 2017.
On Monday,Victoria Police said in a statement there would still be a visible presence of police at the Cup on Tuesday.
It said that if police were first on the scene,officers would remain with drunk people requiring urgent ambulance assistance until paramedics arrived,or if anyone committed a criminal offence,they would be “dealt with swiftly”.
“[Police] members will continue to encourage drunk people to seek support and assistance from family or friends,” a spokesperson said. “There will also be the option of referring them to the public intoxication response service overseen by the Department of Health.
“However,if they refuse and are not presenting a risk to others,there will no longer be a role for police.”
The Victorian Ambulance Union and the Police Association of Victoria have previously said they support the repeal butremain concerned about the implementation.
Danny Hill of the Victorian Ambulance Union said on Monday that his members would transport people to hospital only,not to sobering up services.
“But we are concerned about people who refuse assistance coming to harm if they are left alone,” Hill said. “I think it will be challenging for emergency services to simply leave people unsupported.”
A Police Association spokesman said the union would wait to see how the reforms played out on Tuesday before commenting further.
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