The Closure of Victoria’s Sobering-Up Centre in Collingwood
Victoria’s sobering-up centre in Collingwood is set to close next year, marking the end of a support service for individuals found drunk in public. This decision comes less than four years after the offence of public intoxication was abolished. The closure will bring an end to a facility that has been in operation since 2023 and has faced criticism for low usage.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains names and images of a person who has died. The image has been used with family permission.
The Department of Health confirmed the closure following inquiries from the ABC last week. It emphasized that dedicated centres for Aboriginal people and outreach services for the general population would continue. However, the 20-bed site run by cohealth has struggled with low uptake since its opening in November 2023, when public intoxication was decriminalised and health workers took over from police.
Outreach workers have supported individuals who are drunk in public by offering water, help to get home, or phoning family. If needed, people are transported to the centre to sober up. However, a redesign of the framework over the coming year means that individuals who are drunk in public and require extra support will be taken to local health and community services instead of the Collingwood site. The centre is expected to close in mid-2027.
The department did not immediately explain which services would take responsibility. A spokesperson said, “Victoria’s public intoxication services will continue. People intoxicated in public will continue to be supported by outreach services to help them get home safely or return to the care of family and friends. The centralised service model will evolve, with an emphasis on localised and integrated service delivery to ensure Victorians continue to get the care they need.”
Work to Continue
This month’s state budget reduced funding to manage the reform from June 2027 onward, from $28.5 million to $23.8 million per year. Dedicated centres for Aboriginal people will continue in St Kilda and regional areas like Shepparton. Sobering-up centres for the general population never opened in the regions.
The state opposition has long criticized the centres as a waste of taxpayer money, citing an average of about three people a day in the first year and arguing that the beds could be better used. Victoria was among the last Australian jurisdictions to abolish the offence, which disproportionately affected Aboriginal people. This reform was called for by the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, 30 years earlier.
The government committed to the change after the 2017 death in custody of Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day, who was asleep on a train and arrested for public drunkenness. She hit her head in her cell but police did not notice a lump on her head for three hours, when they called an ambulance. Ms Day had a bleed on her brain and died more than two weeks later of a cerebral haemorrhage.
Cohealth’s Role
The organisation responsible for outreach for the general population in Melbourne, as well as the Collingwood site, cohealth, said the community health organisation would continue to be a provider under the new framework. “Over the next year, cohealth is working with government, Aboriginal leadership, staff, and service users to strengthen public intoxication health services, including transitioning sobering services for the general population from the centralised Collingwood site to more local options connected to health services by mid-2027,” a spokesman said.
“A health-based response to public intoxication saves lives, improves health and safety outcomes, and benefits individuals and the broader community.”
Opposition mental health spokeswoman Emma Kealy said it was another example of Labor waste. “The Liberals and Nationals have always said that this money should instead be spent on expanding Victoria’s residential rehabilitation services,” she said.
Controversies and Challenges
While the public intoxication charge was abolished on November 7, 2023, the Collingwood sobering centre was not ready in time and opened later that month, adding to questions about the state’s readiness. A drunk 34-year-old man in 2024 was hit by a car and killed after cohealth declined to take him to its Collingwood centre after an assessment, based on his history with the service and rostering constraints. This incident highlighted the challenges and controversies surrounding the centre’s operations.
