A bill that could decriminalise public drunkenness in Victoria has been debated in the Legislative Assembly, as state parliament sat for the first time in 2021.
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Victoria is one of only two states that has yet to decriminalise public drunkenness, with the Decriminalisation of Public Drunkenness Bill 2020 said to allow for a health-based response, designed to save lives and better protect vulnerable people.
The possible reforms come more than three years since Echuca grandmother, Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day died in hospital after repeatedly falling and hitting her head in a Castlemaine police cell in December 2017.
Ms Day was arrested more than two weeks prior for being drunk on a train when she was travelling from Echuca to Melbourne.
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Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan, speaking in Parliament, said the reform was a landmark in improving the outcomes for vulnerable and disadvantaged people in the Victorian community.
"It is a source of great pride that we are finally moving to decriminalise public drunkenness and to make historic reform happen," Ms Allan said.
The Day family has called on all members of the Victorian Parliament to support the reform, which they said cannot happen soon enough.
"If these racist laws were abolished three decades ago, our mum would still be with us today," a Day family response published by the Human Rights Law Centre said.
"Public drunkenness laws have always been dangerous and discriminatory.
"That's why the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommended that they be replaced 30 years ago.
"As our mum's case shows, police cells are unsafe places and no person should ever be locked up just for being drunk in public."
The state government first committed to decriminalising public drunkenness in August, 2019, on the eve of a coronial inquest into Ms Day's death.
The state opposition said the measures outlined in the bill fail to detail an alternative health response model.
Shadow Attorney-General Ed O'Donohue said the government is rushing through legislation.
"This Bill must be paused until a proper plan is developed and presented to the community and stakeholders alike," Mr O'Donohue said.
Victoria Police said it would not proceed with charges against the police officers involved, on advice from the Office of Public Prosecutions.
Senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, who represented the Day family in the coronial inquest into Tanya Day's death said MPs owe it to the Day family to support the reforms.
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"The current laws are discriminatory and have led to people dying in police custody," Ms Hurley said.
"If somebody is too drunk, they should be taken home or somewhere safe.
"They should not be locked up behind bars."
Last December, it was revealed that the Day family is suing the Victorian government for unlawful imprisonment and negligence in Tanya Day's death.
A writ lodged in the Supreme Court alleged Ms Day's arrest and detention was a breach of her human rights and inconsistent with the Australian Constitution.
It named the eight police officers involved, who are accused of breaching their duty of care to Ms Day.
Her fatal injuries sustained in police custody allegedly amounted to negligence.
