Alcohol strategy worth $20 million takes shape

Public drunkenness would be decriminalised and trouble-spot venues charged more to operate in a $20 million anti-booze offensive to be considered by the State Government.

Dry-out centres could be set up and teen operatives used to catch vendors who sell to minors, in the latest proposed assault on Victoria's $2 billion alcohol habit.

The blitz would be funded by raising the cost of liquor licences for problem venues.

Details of the proposal are contained in a high-level departmental submission seen by the Herald Sun.

The submission reveals Attorney-General Rob Hulls wants to decriminalise public drunkenness and set up temporary sober-up centres in order to treat the problem as a health issue, not a crime.

With a cost of more than $6 million a year, it is among the most expensive suggestions put forward for the Victorian Alcohol Action Plan, which aims to tackle problem boozing from next year.

The submission, by the Department of Human Services and the Department of Justice, reveals that up to 15,000 people are apprehended for public drunkenness in Victoria each year.

The proposal names Collingwood's Smith St as a place where alcohol abuse is rife.

It says licensing fees are among the lowest in Australia and suggests venues where boozy violence occurs should be charged more to operate.

"Fees for various liquor licenses will be increased to ensure that licensees most responsible for alcohol harm carry the primary financial burden," the proposal says.

It does not say how much the fees would rise, but budget estimates show the fee revision would generate up to $19 million a year in revenue, meaning total cost of the proposed blitz would cost taxpayers $20 million over four years.

The Department of Human Services named Stonnington, Geelong, Darebin and Frankston as trouble spots, and says drinking at amateur footy clubs should be looked at.

"Research over the past decade demonstrates sporting clubs contribute to alcohol problems by accepting and promoting excessive drinking, and providing inappropriate role models for young people," the document says.

It says parents are the main suppliers of alcohol to those students who get it from places other than liquor stores.

About 50 per cent source alcohol from their parents, compared with 17 per cent who get it from friends.

There has been a 132 per cent increase in the number of 20-to-29-year-olds who turn up drunk to hospital emergency departments since 1999.

The document says Mr Hulls wants to introduce a "protective care" regime for public drunks.

Victoria and Queensland are the only states in Australia where public drunkenness is a crime. It carries a $100 fine.

Moves towards decriminalisation follow recommendations from the State Ombudsman and the parliamentary drugs and crime prevention committee, which said treatment was more important than punishment.

Premier John Brumby this month said alcohol was Victoria's biggest social problem and revealed he had established a taskforce aimed at drawing up the action plan.

The taskforce will choose which proposals should form part of the plan.

Herald Sun