On 7 November 2023, Victoria decriminalised public intoxication, recognising a long history of over-policing and serious harm to First Nations and other vulnerable peoples, including deaths in custody. A new evaluation report from Monash University has found that the reforms have met their core intent: no person has died in police custody or been placed in a police cell solely for being intoxicated in public since the reforms began, although opportunities to enhance people’s life outcomes remain.
Victoria remains the only Australian jurisdiction that did not introduce replacement police powers such as protective custody, recognising the significant harms associated with such powers and a commitment to genuine health-led care.
Over a 22 month period, the report evaluated changes to policing practice, legal outcomes, community experience and system behaviour, with a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and other groups who have long faced disproportionate police attention.
Lead author of the report, Professor Kyllie Cripps, Palawa woman and Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, said the evaluation was grounded in a robust Indigenous research methodology, community-led decision-making and aligned with principles of self-determination.
“For decades, First Nations communities have carried the disproportionate burden of over-policing and criminalisation, where public drunkenness laws have led to devastating harms and deaths in custody,” Professor Cripps said.
“The reforms not only recognise these harms but are also a direct response to the decades of advocacy by Aboriginal leaders, families and organisations calling for a fundamentally different approach.
“This evaluation is grounded in stories, insights and lived experiences that illuminate the human realities behind the data. These stories reveal how people encounter the system and whether these interactions are understood as care, surveillance or risk. While overall arrests during intoxication events remained low at 5 per cent, Aboriginal people were still nearly twice as likely to be arrested at 9 per cent. This highlights both the clear progress achieved and the deep structural inequities that persist.”
The evaluation illustrates that Victoria Police has maintained its community responsibilities without stepping back from its duty to protect safety when responding to intoxicated people. While community partners highlighted that embedded cultural norms historically shaped negative encounters, joint implementation by Victoria Police, the Victorian Department of Health and the Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) appears broadly positive.
Key findings:
- Zero deaths in custody or people placed in a police cell solely for being intoxicated in public.
- Police referrals to health and sobering services steadily increased, doubling from 6.5 per cent to 15.4 per cent.
- Arrests for secondary offences during intoxication-related events occurred in only 5 per cent of matters overall; however, Aboriginal people remained twice as likely to be arrested (9 per cent) to the general population.
- 74 per cent of Triple Zero calls were initiated by members of the public. 35 per cent of all calls were categorised as welfare checks.
- Aboriginal people were referred to dedicated public intoxication health services at more than triple the rate of non-Indigenous cohorts (20 per cent vs 6 per cent),
Co-author of the report, Professor Narelle Warren, School of Social Sciences, said ensuring the reforms continue to make a positive impact on communities requires expanding health infrastructure, wraparound care and long-term resourcing.
“Decriminalisation has successfully removed police cells as a default response to public intoxication, but providing immediate care on a single night is only the first step. To ensure these reforms are sustainable, we must consolidate the gains achieved and address critical service gaps, and connect people directly to long-term services like housing, mental health support and alcohol treatment,” Professor Warren said.
“Ultimately, the future of the Public Intoxication Reform requires a commitment to deepening community partnerships, embedding cultural safety, maintaining a clear prohibition on expanding police powers, and investing in a system capable of keeping people safe without criminalisation.”
The report outlines 25 recommendations to future-proof the reform, key among them establishing a dedicated, independent oversight body to monitor police discretion and receive public complaints. Other priority recommendations call for an explicit state commitment against introducing replacement police powers like protective custody, expanding 24/7 sobering outreach into regional Victoria, guaranteeing multi-year funding for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs), and embedding a 6-monthly statewide monitoring framework alongside bespoke, community-led police training.
