It is no longer a criminal offence in Victoria to be intoxicated (affected by alcohol) in public.
Police cannot arrest, detain or fine you for this offence.
For decades, the offence of public intoxication has been applied in a discriminatory way to target and criminalise Aboriginal people but being affected by alcohol in public is a health issue which requires a health response.
If you are affected by alcohol in public, you may be able to access support through the following health services:
There are outreach workers in metro Melbourne and regional Victoria, including in Ballarat, Bendigo, East Gippsland, Geelong, Latrobe, Mildura, Swan Hill and Shepparton.
Outreach services for Aboriginal people are provided by Aboriginal organisations, including:
There are also non-Aboriginal outreach services in metro Melbourne provided by CoHealth.
The services that you can access depends on where you live. If you’re not sure, reach out to your local Aboriginal Community-Controlled health clinic or see the website of the Department of Health for more information.
For decades, the offence of public intoxication has been applied in a discriminatory way to target and criminalise Aboriginal people. In December 2017, much-loved mother, grandmother, sister and proud Yorta Yorta woman, Aunty Tanya Day, passed away after falling and hitting her head in a police cell in Castlemaine, Victoria.
Aunty Tanya was locked in the police cell for being intoxicated in a public place after falling asleep on a train.
Thanks to the advocacy of the Day family, the Government committed to decriminalise public intoxication and replace it with a health response in 2019. In 2023 – the law finally change.
This reform is long overdue – decriminalising public intoxication was first recommended by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody over thirty four years ago.
Download VALS resources about the decriminalisation of public intoxication below:
• Community Fact Sheet
• Flyer – regions with an Aboriginal health response
• Flyer – regions without an Aboriginal health response
• Poster – regions with an Aboriginal health response
• Poster – regions without and Aboriginal health response
We have now passed the 30-year anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) on 15th April 2021. However, many of the Royal Commission’s recommendations have not yet been implemented.
As we continue to wait, our people continue to die.
The RCIADIC recommended increasing access to bail as a crucial measure to reduce preventable deaths in custody.
The Andrews Government has been restricting access to bail.
VALS and over 50 community, legal, and human rights organisations have written to the Andrews Government asking for urgent bail reform focused on reducing preventable deaths in custody.
Since the RCDIAC handed down its report, at least 517 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in custody. You can read more in our fact sheet.
As Australia is a signatory to the United Nations Optional Protocol Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), the Victorian Government has an obligation to prevent the torture and ill-treatment of detained Aboriginal people. This includes an obligation to set up detention oversight bodies. Learn more about OPCAT in our fact sheet or by watching the recording of our Unlocking Victorian Justice webinar.
You can read VALS’ Submission to the United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture and Submission to the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
Over 30 years ago, RCIADIC recommended decriminalising public intoxication. VALS supports and recognises Aunty Tanya Day’s family’s advocacy.
VALS is also advocating for an end to police investigating deaths in police custody and police-contact deaths.
On the 30-year anniversary of RCIADIC, we interviewed Senator Dodson, VALS staff and family members of people who have died in custody.
If you have any queries, please contact Patrick Cook, Acting Head of Policy, Communications and Strategy at pcook@vals.org.au
Find more resources for further reading here.
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children are disproportionately incarcerated in Victoria.
Prison does not rehabilitate children.
VALS believes that:
Read our policy brief, Raising the Age of Criminal Responsibility, to learn more.
Systemic racism in Victoria Police impacts Aboriginal communities on a daily basis and manifests itself in the way that Aboriginal people are over-policed, over-represented in police custody and under-served when they need assistance from police. Addressing these deep-seated problems requires an effective system of police oversight, which prevents misconduct from occurring and holds police to account when it does take place. Victoria’s police oversight system falls drastically short of achieving these goals.
In 2020-2021, 94.3% of complaints against police were investigated by Victoria Police themselves, or not investigated at all. Police investigating themselves will never deliver real accountability. Aboriginal people have no faith in the police complaints system – despite facing higher rates of police misconduct, Aboriginal people are less likely to make a complaint. They know the system is broken.
Read the open letter on Police Accountability to Police Minister Lisa Neville, signed by VALS and thirteen other legal services.
A fully functioning police oversight system requires:
Read VALS’ Police Accountability Policy Brief and Police Accountability Policy Paper, and listen to our webinar, Who Polices the Police?.
Read our joint media release with the Aboriginal Justice Caucus, the Koorie Youth Council, the Federation of Community Legal Centres and the Human Rights Law Centre. Stop Tranche Two: Another unmitigated disaster waiting to happen
In Victoria, the Aboriginal imprisonment rate has almost doubled in the last ten years, and about half of the prison population is on remand.
Over 35 years ago, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody handed down its report, which included recommendations to increase access to bail and only use prison “as a sanction of last resort”. Since then, the recommendations have been repeated in many reports, reviews, inquiries and forums, yet Victoria has failed to implement these recommendations and instead has gone backwards.
Victoria’s prisons are now filled with people on remand, those who have not been found guilty of any offence, some of who are unlikely to serve a prison sentence even if convicted.
Our children continue to be remanded for petty offending as they are subjected to the same bail test as an adult. By ignoring expert advice, the Victorian Government is tearing Aboriginal families apart and further traumatising Aboriginal communities. Aboriginal women are the fastest growing demographic in Victoria’s prisons. Many of them are victim-survivors of family violence. They need support, not a prison cell. Many of them are primary carers. Locking them up in prison before their day in court destroys families and communities.
In March 2025, VALS and over 100 representatives of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, community services, family violence and legal sectors stood together to launch their open letter calling for the Victorian Government to implement just and fair bail laws.
As a collective voice, we strongly condemn the suite of knee-jerk bail law changes introduced by the Allan Labor Government in March. We know they will lead to greater criminalisation of Aboriginal communities and other marginalised communities. Granting bail saves lives. Any bail reform must align with, and not detract from Poccum’s Law. You can read the open letter here: Bail Saves Lives – Poccum’s Law is the Way Forward
In anticipation of the second tranche of bail law amendments scheduled for mid-year, VALS has prepared a Statement of Advice, containing 20 legislative and programmatic recommendations. Our recommendations are essential to minimising the inevitable harmful impacts of these regressive bail changes on Aboriginal people and communities. You can read VALS’ Statement of Advice here: Bail Saves Lives – VALS Statement of Advice: High Harm & Two Strike Bail Changes
VALS, alongside many others, are calling on the Victorian Government to implement Poccum’s Law in full. You can read the Poccum’s Law Blueprint here: Bail Saves Lives: Poccum’s Law is the Way Forward
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