Wednesday, 4 October 2023

Motions

Decriminalisation of public drunkenness

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (11:47): I move:

That this house:

(1) expresses its concern that the Summary Offences Amendment (Decriminalisation of Public Drunkenness) Act 2021 will increase risk to members of Victoria Police, people in a vulnerable state and the community, noting that:

(a) the Victoria Police training video to leave an intoxicated female in a public area places the female at risk;

(b) there is a health crisis in Victoria and these laws will increase pressure on regional hospitals and remove staff from struggling emergency rooms;

(c) Victoria is the only state that has introduced laws to decriminalise public drunkenness that has not given police increased move-on laws or powers of arrest to ensure community safety is the priority;

(2) calls on the government to postpone the commencement of the Summary Offences Amendment (Decriminalisation of Public Drunkenness) Act 2021 until:

(a) move-on laws are introduced to ensure police have the powers to put community safety first;

(b) the government establishes at least three trial sites that operate for a 24-month period and a report on this trial is tabled in Parliament; and

(c) the Victoria Police training video is withdrawn and reissued with due consideration to the issues listed above and no police officer is trained to leave a vulnerable person in a potentially more dangerous or vulnerable position.

This motion is timely because of course this public drunkenness law and the sobering-up centres that have been trialled – and I will come back to that – will be in place in just a few weeks time. In fact it comes into action on Melbourne Cup Day, if you can believe it, one of the busiest days of the year and certainly a magnificent time of the year with our Spring Racing Carnival, and one that most Victorians ‍– I would say nearly all Victorians – just enjoy and celebrate. What a wonderful event it is. It showcases what we have in this city on the world stage, and it is an important one to maintain that position. But what it does do is that invariably we do see racegoers revel in the celebrations, and there is always lots of fun to be had, but invariably there are many people who overindulge in alcohol on the day, and there are thousands of people that leave Flemington Racecourse – sometimes many, many thousands – in an intoxicated state and in various degrees of an intoxicated state.

These laws that are now in place are assuming that police do not have any responsibility and that it is now up to our health system to be looking after these people. With the government’s rushed and, I would say, botched policy decision, we have got one sobering-up centre in Collingwood, which is going to cause issues for that local community. People have expressed to me that they are concerned about the location, and I am not sure about the consultation that was done with the local community out there. This government –

Evan Mulholland: They’re very upset.

Georgie CROZIER: They are very upset, as Mr Mulland knows only too well because he has, I think, been in touch with many of those community members. They feel that they have not been consulted with due regard by the government and it has just been thrust into their area, and they are concerned about the numbers and how it will operate.

In saying that, it is completely unworkable. It is just the most ludicrous policy. Somebody who is drunk in Frankston is going to come up to Collingwood and sober up? Somebody in some other part of Melbourne is going to come into Collingwood and sober up? I mean, it is completely and utterly bonkers. Then you have got people in regional Victoria – where do they go? They will have to go to a regional emergency department. Our hospitals are already overflowing with patients with chronic health conditions because they have been through the lockdowns and through the neglect of the Labor governments – now the Allan government, but she was part of the Andrews government. It is a dire situation our health system is in. Many people have found that due to the prolonged lockdowns their chronic conditions have worsened and they are needing hospital care and emergency care. Of course we have had a crisis in the ambulance system. They cannot get an ambulance, and people are ending up in our emergency departments. Now the other ridiculous taxes being placed on our health system ‍– and I name the GP health tax – will put more pressure on our system. How is the government actually going to manage this? It is a completely and utterly ludicrous policy decision made by this government to expect the health system to pick up the pieces.

It has been noted that the police union and other unions have raised their concerns with government. The alcohol and drug sector have raised their concerns with government. They are all very worried about the implementation of this policy and what is to be expected. The training video I mentioned in the motion. Well, if you look at that training video, there is a woman who is intoxicated. The police ask if she is all right: ‘Do you need an ambulance?’ She says no, and then they walk away, saying, ‘Well, we can’t intervene any further.’ They walk away and say, ‘Well, we’ll just do patrols.’ What happens if they are called out to another emergency? That patrol is not going to happen, and you have got a very vulnerable person that is intoxicated and does not get the support and care from our police, who do a fabulous job in supporting people in such a state. I think this is the short-sightedness of the government: they have not recognised the need and actually what the police do to support people in these vulnerable situations.

That is just one incident with one vulnerable female, but I want to make the point that when you have got large numbers of people who are intoxicated it can become a dangerous situation, and you need the police to have those arrest powers. Well, this takes away those arrest powers. I have to say that it was the former coalition government that introduced the move-on laws, which allowed police to move on protesters or people that were causing disruption or causing concern to the community and were being a danger to not only themselves but others, and yet this government scrapped those laws. When they came to power they abolished them, and that has been another short-sighted move by the government. Public drunkenness has been decriminalised in other states around the country, but Victoria is the only jurisdiction that has introduced laws to decriminalise public drunkenness without giving police increased move-on laws or powers of arrest to ensure community safety is a priority – and that is the difference.

The police union, the ambulance union and the alcohol and drugs sector have asked how it is going to work. There have been suggestions about installing non-invasive camera systems – medical monitoring systems – in police cells, and I think that is a very good suggestion. Where is the government on that? I am not quite sure. I do not know where they are on that, but that could at least give some additional monitoring and assistance to what they need to deal with.

Let us not forget that many people who are intoxicated with alcohol also have a cocktail of drugs on board, so there is violence. What happens then? How are we going to deal with that when there are violent members of the community who are going to be placed in the hands of health professionals? We do not have enough ambulances out there to deal with patients that need them. We have seen the disasters that have occurred due to the shortage and the crisis in our ambulance system. It is still going on. There are so many problems within our ambulance system, as we know from reports over recent weeks. That is a mess. Our health system is a mess, and yet they are expected to have this additional burden where the police now do not have those powers to assist those frontline workers to deal with this issue where members of the community are intoxicated or have an issue with drugs and alcohol.

I would like to say about this Collingwood sobering-up centre, despite the fact that it has been highlighted, that the police union have said they fear police will be forced to wait on the side of the road for help to arrive under the new model. Where is that going to place them when other people are in need? The Salvation Army boss Major Brendan Nottle said Victorians should be highly alert to the fact that there may not be enough wraparound services within and outside metropolitan Melbourne. I think he is completely right on that. We have made our points known on this for some time. We are concerned about it. That is why we have brought forward this motion today to discuss it, because in just a few weeks time we are going to have to be dealing with this, and the under-preparedness and the lack of certainty provided to our frontline workers remain. What is also of concern is that, outside of metropolitan Melbourne, Mildura and Bendigo are two hotspots for drunkenness arrests, so this policy does not extend to the areas where the issue is.

Lee TARLAMIS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (11:58): I move:

That debate on this motion be adjourned until later this day.

The PRESIDENT: Just to clarify Mr Tarlamis’s motion, this means Dr Mansfield will be able to start her motion after lunch. But if we return to this motion, Ms Crozier can continue her contribution if she wants to.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned until later this day.

Business interrupted pursuant to sessional orders.