There are positive signs knife crime is slowly starting to decline across a state, one year after the government announced a ban on the sale of machetes.
A Victorian government spokesperson acknowledged crime rates remained too high and there was more work to do, but told AAP the latest reforms were working.
This came as a 16-year-old boy recovers in hospital with stab wounds after he was involved in a fight outside a busy cinema complex at Highpoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne's west about 7pm on Wednesday.
A knife was located at the scene and seized by police, with a group of people fleeing the scene once police arrived.
Two other teenagers suffered minor injuries and did not require hospital treatment, while the 16-year-old boy was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
