Victoria's premier has defended pushing ahead with changes to public drunkenness laws on Melbourne Cup Day, despite construction delays to a dedicated sobering up centre.
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The government had intended for a 20-bed facility in Collingwood to be part of the health response when being drunk in public is no longer a crime in Victoria from November 7.
Jacinta Allan said the facility's expansion would be completed by the end of November but other responses were already in place to help people when the law changes.
"The vast majority of people who are out and about just need a bit of support to get home and that's what will happen to the vast majority of instances," the premier told reporters on Tuesday.
"Whether it's through police, whether it's through ambulance services, those supports will be in place."
The Victorian government committed to decriminalising public drunkenness at the start of an inquest into the 2017 death of Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day.
She was arrested for being drunk in a public place and died after hitting her head in a concrete cell at Castlemaine Police Station.
A coroner found her death was preventable.
The police union has expressed concerns about the laws changing without sobering up centres open being up and running across Victoria.
Ms Allan said people facing health or safety risks would be able to access existing supports through emergency services and others, including Aboriginal health providers in regional and rural areas.
"We are not going to continue where we have laws in this state that disproportionately see Indigenous Victorians end up in jail cells and very seriously significant consequences come as a result of that," the premier said.
Cohealth will continue to operate a six-bed trial site on Gertrude Street in Collingwood and mobile vans until the expanded site opens.
The Victorian opposition on Tuesday moved legislation in the lower house to delay decriminalising public drunkenness but it was blocked by Labor.
Opposition police spokesman Brad Battin earlier posed in front of an imitation cohealth van outside parliament in a bid to demonstrate how drunk people could be misdirected.
He denied the van, mocked up by Sharie Harrold who lives across the road from the Collingwood sobering up centre, was a political stunt.
"For years and years, we've taught people about stranger danger and now we're saying when you're drunk it's okay to get into a white van," Mr Battin said.
Opposition Leader John Pesutto said his office was tipped off about Mr Battin's participation in the demonstration on Tuesday but warned people not to get any ideas.
"Nobody should be impersonating a health worker, a first responder or anyone else," he said.
A cohealth spokeswoman confirmed that like other health services in the community, its public intoxication health workers would have official ID and uniforms to identify them by.
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Aboriginal Counselling Services 0410 539 905
Australian Associated Press
