Key unions and Aboriginal legal advocates fear tragic outcomes after the decriminalisation of public drunkenness, amid confusion over aspects of the new health-led response which is due to be rolled out in just five months.
Two unions are speaking out about gaps they see in Victoria's plans to deal with people who are drunk in public.
It comes as Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) data reveals that Mildura and Bendigo police have been arresting significantly more Indigenous people than other regions, under laws that are set to be scrapped on November 7.
It's the better part of four years since the government signalled it would finally do away with one of Victoria's most outdated laws, more than two years after legislation was introduced, and seven months after the move was originally slated to kick off, before it was delayed by a year.
Paramedics say guidance on when to 'walk away' needed
The Victorian Ambulance Union and the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) are both in favour of the reforms, but say more work urgently needs to be done.
Ambulance union boss Danny Hill said there needed to be more clarity about when paramedics could walk away from a drunken person who refused to go to a health facility.
"I think the last thing we want to have is proof of the need to do more coming from the coroner because we've seen another tragedy occur. We would much rather that that unions and experts are properly consulted … [to] avoid another death in a police cell by putting the work in," he said.
"Let's get it right now before the reform goes ahead."
Mr Hill said paramedics needed a level of legal protection to feel "strongly backed" if they made an assessment that a drunk person was of sound mind if they refuse help.
He said it was already a difficult aspect of their job, but the stakes would be higher once the reforms made consent a priority.
"The last thing you would want to have happen is a tragedy, and paramedics are being hauled over the coals for a bad outcome [when] all the paramedics have done is followed the intent of the legislation and the intent of the reform, which is to leave people to their own devices, if that's what they choose," he said.
There are already immunities in place to protect emergency responders, and the government said there would be new training ahead of the change.
The police union has repeatedly called for its officers to be given more detention or move-on powers, but the government has ruled that out, saying that would not help achieve true cultural change.
Mr Hill said he was not concerned paramedics would be forced to act as police.
"There's no change under this reform to the ESTA dispatch grid that would see ambulance crews doing work that police are currently doing. That's not in the reform," he said.
"I don't think that this is a divisive reform. I do think that people are saying a lot of divisive things about the reform."
VALS CEO Nerita Waight said community expectations around the involvement of paramedics or police in dealing with intoxicated people highlighted the need for a public awareness campaign, first mentioned in the expert reference group advising the government on the decriminalisation process back in 2020.
"Since then, there's been radio silence," she said.
"An ordinary person out there in the community is going to wonder if they see somebody who's intoxicated in public, what do they do? Do they call police? Do they call an alternative service?
"These are normal questions that they need to have answers to."
The Victorian government said new training and clinical and operational practices were being developed for emergency responders.
"We are working with first responders, on how best to support people found intoxicated in public following decriminalisation," a spokesperson said.
"Ambulance Victoria and ESTA will continue to play a critical role in providing services to people found intoxicated in public."
Calls to make cells safer
The unions have also voiced concern about people who would be jailed when drunk because they had also been charged with a crime, like being a public nuisance.
HACSU Victorian secretary Paul Healey said while the reforms would help "people who just need a bit of help to get home", more needed to be done.
"We're not doing what's needed to keep people safe. And they need to change and make a health response in the custody settings," he said.
Mr Healey pointed to technology, like Oxehealth in the UK, developed to help health workers detect patients wobbling or falling in their rooms.
He said that technology could be adapted to make "smart cells" in metropolitan police stations.
"There needs to be smart cells that are soft, padded, with sensors in the roof to help police monitor the people in there, but also to have nurses, social workers, drug and alcohol workers attend stations when required, and also a 24-hour hotline for police to call to get expert opinions on what to do," Mr Healey said.
"What we want to do is make sure everyone gets home safe. But at the moment, nothing's changed."
Eleanor Williams, the Department of Health's executive director of strategy and policy, was asked at the Yoorrook Justice Commission this month if she knew whether the government was planning to address the unions' concerns.
She said: "I don't believe so… I don't think there are any infrastructure upgrades planned as part of these reforms, but the culture change [to divert people to health services] is really central."
Ms Waight agreed the custodial health response was not sufficient and had long been calling for outreach services to "in-reach" into police cells, and prevent a tragic death like that of Yorta Yorta woman, Tanya Day.
It was Aunty Tanya's death in custody in December 2017, after being detained on a charge of public drunkenness, that sparked the decriminalisation process.
Mildura and Bendigo 'hotspots' of drunkenness arrests
Even as Victorian police approach a world without a public drunkenness offence, two regional stations are continuing to use the law.
Between July last year and March this year, VALS said 331 Indigenous people across the state were charged with public drunkenness where that was the primary reason for arrest and detention.
Two police stations' arrest figures stand out well above all others – 52 in Mildura and 41 in Bendigo.
In response, Victoria Police said the number of Aboriginal people arrested for being drunk in the Bendigo and Mildura police service areas has been consistently declining since 2009.
It also said the number of Aboriginal people arrested for being drunk each year had fallen from 1,725 in 2009 to 351 in 2022 — an 80 per cent reduction.
Ms Waight said high numbers of arrests in some jurisdictions were still "really concerning".
"We requested that the Chief Commissioner issue an instruction for all police in Victoria, directing them to refrain from charging for public intoxication [in the] lead up to decriminalisation. It hasn't happened yet," she said.
"And it's actually not clear what operational guidance will be issued to Victoria Police in relation to decriminalisation, which is probably why we're seeing these charges continue to appear in our data."
Police said "phasing out" arrests was not possible because there was no health-led model in place other than in the trial sites.
