Drunkenness is a health issue but there ain’t no plan to provide a health solution

Last week Labor outnumbered our call for some reasoned amendments that would have put a safety net around its plans to decriminalize public drunkenness.

We opposed the amendment because Daniel Andrews has failed to provide police with an alternative. There's no health alternative. There's no move on power. All he wants to do is say we're going to make public drunkenness illegal, but he hasn't actually set up the alternatives. He says, we'll think about the alternatives.

It's putting the cart before the horse.

The Premier needs to say, if he wants to decriminalize public drunkenness, what are police supposed to do? When they find people in the street, who are drunk, who are engaging in anti-social behavior, does he want to wait until there's a cowards punch? Does he want to wait until there's a brawl? The Premier can't just say he's going to make public drunkenness legal, without giving police an alternative to try and keep order on the streets, and help people look after their health. But hey, that's what they plan to.

This is an edited video version of my speech and below is the full speech as recorded in Hansard ....