Turning Point Research -Lived Experience – Public Drunkenness
INTRODUCTION
Laws making public drunkenness an offence have been repealed in most English-speaking countries and most states of Australia, although not in Queensland and Victoria. The Premier of Victoria has committed to decriminalising public drunkenness and to developing and implementing a public health response.A public consultation process is underway to inform the development of this response. Understanding the experiences, needs and suggestions of the people that are likely to be directly affected by a public health response will be important in ensuring that the response is appropriate. This is particularly important as the relatively limited research on public health
responses to public drunkenness does not provide strong guidance on the appropriateness of various models of service delivery.Recognising this, the Department of Health and Human Services commissioned Turning Point and Monash University to undertake a rapid research project with people affected by Victorian public drunkenness laws.