Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has defended the state’s new public drunkenness laws arguing that the move to decriminalise public intoxication will not add an extra burden for police officers—despite unions arguing otherwise.
“Will it be easy? No. Of course, it’s a big shift,” the premier said on April 13.
“This is a reform that is long overdue.”
Meanwhile, Wayne Gatt, chief executive of the Police Association of Victoria, panned the new laws saying it will leave officers with insufficient powers.
“From here on, if a person is found drunk in public and causing a nuisance, or compromising the safety of those around them, police can’t deal with them. Our members have been stripped of the power to remove these people from the situation they are in, and the potential danger that emanates,” Gatt said in a statement….