Tuesday, 16 June 2026

 David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (21:55): (2583) My adjournment is for the Premier. The National Justice Project recently held an online event entitled Alternative First Responders, turning ideas into action, and it highlighted the urgent need to fund alternatives to police-led crisis responses. This powerful event featured advocates from a cross-section of community, justice, health and harm-reduction organisations who spoke of alternative models to police involvement which are already working despite limited funding and support from the government. We are increasingly seeing the inappropriate use of police as the default response in situations where police are unable to provide the necessary care and de-escalation to people experiencing psychosocial distress, people experiencing family violence, people experiencing homelessness and overpoliced communities, to name but a few.

Police-led crisis responses are problematic at best, but we know that encounters with police, particularly for vulnerable people, can cause significant harm and even death in the community. This was exemplified by one of the speakers, Apryl Day from the Dhadjowa Foundation, whose mother, Tanya Day, died in a police cell after falling asleep on a train and subsequently being arrested for public drunkenness. This was a clear instance of someone who should have received care instead of being criminalised – someone who would be alive today but for her interaction with police. The Yoorrook report cited many examples of overpolicing of First Peoples through the inappropriate use of police as first responders and using the criminal law and police to respond to conduct associated with social inequality such as intoxication, drug use and mental illness.

Victoria’s reliance on police is due to underinvestment in alternative models and the failure of government to properly fund health, social and community support services, a trend continued in the latest budget, which effectively cut funding to these sectors while throwing millions at policing and jails. Given the shortfall inside Victoria Police, it is time to accept that alternative first responders experienced and skilled in harm-minimisation practices should replace or supplement police in situations where a health or social response is needed to keep our communities safe. Recognising that this will require a whole-of-government approach, the action I seek is that the Premier commit to the expansion and capacity building of existing community-controlled, non-police, alternative first responder models and services and resource them accordingly.