Public drunkenness decriminalised on Melbourne Cup day

Government tender documents show the criminal justice response to public intoxication will be replaced with a health-based approach from November 7.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the date had been decided by parliament in August and his government would not change it.

"We don't say that the best thing to do if someone is drunk and at no risk to themselves or anyone else is to lock them up," he told reporters on Thursday.

"It should be a health-led response. And again, that's what the parliament has already determined."

The Victorian government committed to decriminalising public drunkenness at the start of a 2019 coronial inquest into the death of Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day.

Ms Day was arrested for being drunk in a public place in December 2017 and later died after she hit her head on a wall in a concrete cell at Castlemaine Police Station.

Her death was preventable, a coroner found.

Queensland is now the only state that hasn't moved to decriminalise public intoxication.

Police Association of Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt said police should retain residual powers to protect the community.

"It shouldn't be a measure of success by the amount of people that you lock up," he told reporters.

"But it also shouldn't be a measure of success by the amount of people that get knocked to the ground because you haven't done something, because you haven't cared for them properly.

"The people involved in the planning for these operations don't know the answers to these questions."

But Mr Andrews said if the drunk person was at risk to themselves or others, there would still be options for police to intervene.

"We have consistently given the chief commissioner the powers, the resources and the resolve that he needs to fight crime and keep our communities safe," he said.

"This is not about crime. This is about a health-led response instead of a criminal justice-led response because we know what that ends up with - it ends up with tragedy."

The government has committed to providing a dedicated Aboriginal service response to public drunkenness in metropolitan Melbourne and 10 regional and outer-suburban locations.

A general service response will also operate in the city, while centralised services will provide a co-ordinated approach across the state.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto said the government was implementing the reforms without the necessary support.

"It's clear that in starting this new scheme on November 7 - Melbourne Cup day - it couldn't be a worse time to commence that process," he told reporters.

The government has opened the tender process for health-led services, with applications to close on May 9.

The volume of intake, referral and dispatch calls per month could be as high as 1000, although services have been told actual demand will depend on policing protocols and community uptake.

Successful services will be contracted to provide the health-based response until June 30, 2026.

Australian Associated Press