Victoria Police will not get new powers when public drunkenness is decriminalised, the government has confirmed, drawing criticism from the police and ambulance unions.
The state government committed to scrapping public drunkenness laws in the wake of the inquest into the death of Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day in 2017.
Tanya Day's name and photo has been used with her family's permission.
The laws will be replaced by a health-based approach, where intoxicated people are taken to a sobering-up centre or another safe place.
Ms Day, 55, was asleep on a V/Line train in 2017 before she was arrested and taken to the Castlemaine police station.
She hit her head at least five times inside the holding cell and was eventually taken to hospital, where she died 17 days later.
In a statement, the Day family welcomed the government's move to not install new police powers with the reform.
"As our mother's case shows, police cells are dangerous places for those intoxicated, especially our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities," the family said.
"No person should ever be locked up just for being drunk in public, and there should be no role for police or police cells in a public health response.
"We welcome the Andrews government's decision to hear our family's concerns and not to add or replace already excessive police powers and laws.
"This is the first time across the nation that a jurisdiction has made a commitment to true decriminalisation."
The law reform was slated for November 2022, but was delayed until November this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A trial is currently taking place in the cities of Yarra, greater Shepparton, greater Dandenong and Mount Alexander Shire.
Decriminalising public drunkenness was a key recommendation from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, over 30 years ago.
Police union criticises 'sit back' approach
Police Association of Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt said the union supported the decriminalisation of public drunkenness, but not without replacement powers for police.
He said police would not be able to act in a case where someone was drunk, as they can only intervene when an offence has been committed.
"What police will have to do, in cases where no offence has been committed, will be to sit back, watch and wait for an offence to be committed," he said.
"We think that's going to put the community at significant risk."
Mr Gatt said other states and territories which had implemented the law reform had granted police different powers to transport, detain and move on people who did not want to engage with health services.
"That's the part of the equation that's absent in the Victorian approach," he said.
Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said he supported the law reform, but was worried about the state's ability to install enough health services to respond to public drunkenness.
He said if police could not interfere and health outreach services were busy, the workload would fall on ambulances.
"A police cell is not the right place for someone to be when they're heavily intoxicated — we know that," he said.
"But the back of an ambulance and an emergency department bed probably isn't the right place for many of these patients either."
Government says 'coercive powers' would undermine law reform
Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said she understood some stakeholders had concerns about the model, but there were still 10 months left of the trial and for the government to continue consultations.
"There will be no coercive powers to replace the arrest powers that will no longer available for the single offence of being drunk in public," she said.
"We have learnt from other jurisdictions that have brought in backup coercive powers that it undermines the whole purpose of decriminalisation."
Ms Symes said the government would continue conversations with Victoria Police about move-on powers.
"Police will still have the option of stepping in when someone is disturbing the peace, causing a scene, concerns about violent behaviour and the like," she said.
"These laws are about decriminalising public intoxication, they are not about diluting any further police powers."
Nerita Waight, CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, said in a statement that the government's approach to the law reform showed it was listening to stakeholders.
"The Victorian Government's decision to ensure police will not have new powers to respond to public intoxication is the right decision and a testament to the tireless advocacy of the Day family since the passing of Aunty Tanya Day over five years ago," she said.
"This is an important decision that will have a huge positive impact for over-policed Aboriginal communities as well as other vulnerable communities across Victoria."
Acting chair of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, Sue-Anne Hunter, welcomed today's announcement.
"Over a very long time, Aboriginal leaders, organisations and community members, many of whom have lost loved ones after they died while incarcerated, have advocated for these laws to be abolished and replaced with a public health response. It is pleasing to see progress," she said.
"This reform is among a host of recommendations that have been made to Yoorrook by First Peoples to fix Victoria's criminal justice system, including raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 14, and reforming bail laws."
