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80
Establish non-custodial facilities for care of intoxicated persons
That the abolition of the offence of drunkenness should be accompanied by adequately funded programs to establish and maintain non-custodial facilities for the care and treatment of intoxicated persons.
The state government is establishing health services to support people who are intoxicated in public. It is essential that these services are established as quickly as possible and that Aboriginal organisations are empowered and supported to operate these services in the way that they see fit for their communities.
Aboriginal Justice Caucus Assessment
The intent of Recommendation 80 was to establish and fund non-custodial facilities for the care and treatment of intoxicated persons when decriminalising public drunkenness.
The establishment of sobering-up centres was to keep our mob out of the system and there were several of those established across the state way back when in the 90s, and then for some reason or other they were stopped and nobody seems to know how, why or when? They just seemed to vanish off the face of the earth… (Marion Hansen, Co-chairperson, AJC).
The Department of Health was allocated $88 million in the 2023-24 Budget to support the establishment of non-custodial facilities for the care of intoxicated persons following the decriminalisation of public drunkenness. In July 2024, Cohealth was operating a general sobering-up service in Collingwood to assist people found intoxicated in public in the Melbourne metropolitan area. Ngwala Willumbong was operating a sobering-up service in St Kilda and Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative was operating one in Shepparton. Ngwala was also operating outreach services in Swan Hill, Mildura, Latrobe, and East Gippsland with the aim of establishing sobering-up centres in these locations (once appropriate facilities had been identified). The Victorian Aboriginal Health Service provide a 24/7 centralised phone service for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal callers.
The state government is establishing health services to support people who are intoxicated in public. It is essential that these services are established as quickly as possible and that Aboriginal organisations are empowered and supported to operate these services in the way that they see fit for their communities. (Nerita Waight, CEO, VALS)
Actions taken partially align with the intent of the recommendation, but limited resources allocated for sobering-up centres means that they are not accessible to every Aboriginal community across the state.
Even once all the sobering-up sites are up and running they’re not going to service everyone. The funding needs to be flexible and able to move with cohorts of people. Because the data is based on previous years, the model doesn’t account for growth or changes where Aboriginal people are moving, especially in the city where families move because of affordable housing. The model needs to be flexible to accommodate these changes. (Chris Harrison, Co-chairperson, AJC and Chairperson, Aboriginal Community Justice Panels)
There are still Aboriginal people who are affected by alcohol being held in police custody due to other charges. They remain at risk.
Recommendation 80 remains highly relevant and full implementation has the potential to reduce incarceration, increase safety in custody and progress Aboriginal self-determination.
Priority for Further Work:
High
Relevance and potential impact | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low (0-2) | Moderate (3-4) | High (5-6) | |||
Extent of action taken and evidence of outcomes | High (5-6) | ||||
Moderate (3-4) | |||||
Low (0-2) | |||||
Potential Actions for Further Work
Ongoing funding and establishment of more sobering up facilities
Ensure that Aboriginal people across Victoria have access to health-based responses implemented under the public intoxication reforms, particularly those delivered by ACCOs. This includes the Victorian Government supporting Ngwala Willumbong to obtain more properties to establish facilities in the Gippsland and Mallee regions. In addition, there needs to be adequate ongoing funding beyond budget cycles and further sobering up facilities established in larger catchment areas.
Background
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) emphasised that in conjunction with the decriminalisation of public drunkenness, care and treatment programs should be provided in place of police intervention and time spent in custody. The Commission highlighted that the decriminalisation of public drunkenness alone, was not enough to reduce how many people encounter the criminal justice system or how much time they spend in police custody.
Actions Taken Since Last Review
Victorian Government
In 2019 the Victorian Government announced it would ‘decriminalise public drunkenness and replace it with a health-based response, in order to provide vulnerable Victorians with appropriate help and support’. An Expert Reference Group (ERG) was established to provide advice to government about development of a public health-based response. The ERG undertook broad consultation with a range of stakeholders which included Aboriginal organisations, first responders and health professionals as well as community and legal peak bodies. The ERG delivered its report, ‘Seeing the Clear Light of Day’, with 86 recommendations, to the government in August 2020.
The government considered the ERG’s report and recommendations as it worked towards implementing a health model to meet the immediate and long-term health needs of people who are intoxicated in public. (The ERG’s report and the Victorian Government’s response are available at www.justice.vic.gov.au/public-drunkenness)
Consistent with the ERG’s recommendation, the public health model was to be trialled in four areas (City of Yarra, Shepparton, Dandenong and Castlemaine) for 24 months and then established across the state. While the government acknowledged that the reforms were long overdue, this implementation period was considered critical to creating a well-designed, collaborative and culturally safe system consistent with the ERG’s vision.
The government provided $16 million in the 2020-21 Budget to begin implementation of these reforms. During the implementation period, government consulted with the Aboriginal community, first responders, health services and other communities to ensure the health model design was culturally safe and met community needs.
The Victorian Government recognised that the requirements of a public health response would also strengthen Victoria’s response to RCIADIC Recommendation 80.
Department of Health
The Department of Health’s 2023 update on the establishment of a health-based response to public intoxication in Victoria noted:
Service Model
Police will not be given any new powers to address public intoxication. Instead, a health-based model will be adopted across metropolitan Melbourne, outer metro areas, and regional locations. This model will include outreach teams and sobering services, with a particular emphasis on serving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients.
Secondary Response
When a dedicated health response is unavailable, emergency service providers will offer a secondary response. This response will prioritise community safety, emergency health risks, and interventions based on consent.
Service Providers
The Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) will provide centralised services for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Co-health will provide general population outreach services and a sobering centre in Collingwood. Ngwala Willumbong will provide Aboriginal services in metropolitan Melbourne, Wyndham, and Frankston, Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative services Shepparton, and Bendigo & District Aboriginal Co-operative services Bendigo. Working with Aboriginal-led organisations is the preferred approach with further locations and providers to be announced.
Children and young people
Children and young people under 18 found intoxicated in public will receive assistance from outreach teams. These teams will prioritise child safety and may help young people contact a parent or responsible adult to ensure their safety. The model emphasises culturally appropriate responses for Aboriginal young people.
Victoria Police
The Victorian Department of Health has primary responsibility for developing and delivering adequately funded programs to establish and maintain non-custodial facilities for the care and treatment of intoxicated individuals. Victoria Police support the decriminalisation of public drunkenness and will support alternative facilities under a health-led response model. Recommendation 80 is not for Victoria Police.
Impact
Outputs
Department of Health
Funding to implement the health-based response which includes sobering-up centres:
- $16 million in the 2020-21 Budget to begin implementation of public intoxication reforms
- an extra $50 million over two years (2022-23 and 2023-24) to continue and expand the trial site program, including establishment of standalone Aboriginal service responses in the City of Yarra and Shepparton; an expansion of the Custodial Notification Scheme which provides support to Aboriginal community members detained in custody; evaluation of trial sites to inform the state-wide rollout; and implementation planning for the state-wide rollout including staffing and training costs
- $88 million from the 2023-24 Budget to cover three years of funding until 2025-26.
Sobering facilities and places of safety
In metropolitan Melbourne, fully staffed sobering-up centres operating 24 hours per day, seven days per week will provide a supervised place for people who are intoxicated to stay while they recover from the immediate effects of intoxication. They are dignified and safe environments that help to reduce the risk of harm to the intoxicated person.
These facilities include:
- one centre for the general population in Collingwood
- one centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in St Kilda
- on-demand places of safety in regional locations where outreach teams can support Aboriginal people if they cannot safely return home or to the home of family, friends, carers or kin, and require ongoing supervision.
Outcomes
Department of Health
At the 68th Aboriginal Justice Forum the Department of Health provided an update on public intoxication services as of July 2024. Sobering-up services for Aboriginal people (places of safety) were operating in St Kilda and Shepparton but were yet to be established in other regional locations.
The Department of Health stated that over 10,000 people had been supported by outreach services and over 600 at sobering-up centres.
Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation
Ngwala updated the Aboriginal Justice Forum (2024) on their outreach services to the St Kilda and Frankston areas. Ngwala were successful in securing funding to provide additional public intoxication response services in other areas including Wyndham, Latrobe, Bairnsdale, Mildura and Swan Hill. Work was underway to establish sobering-up services for Aboriginal people in these locations. The team highlighted that they had around 160 engagements per week with their outreach coffee van which included providing community with rough sleeping packs where required.
Community Views
The Expert Reference Group Report on Public Drunkenness
The ERG’s vision is that those who are intoxicated in public and at risk to themselves or others will be safe, will have access to culturally appropriate care, will have minimal contact with the criminal justice system, and that the safety of the community and first responders will be protected. A key aim of the model is to reduce incarceration and prevent deaths in custody.
Nerita Waight
The state government is establishing health services to support people who are intoxicated in public. It is essential that these services are established as quickly as possible and that Aboriginal organisations are empowered and supported to operate these services in the way that they see fit for their communities.