The sale of machetes will be banned in Victoria from Wednesday, after an alleged clash involving the weapon forced Northland shopping centre into lockdown at the weekend.
It comes as Victoria police made further arrests and said more were “imminent”, after the alleged fight between “rival youth gangs” in Melbourne on Sunday.
The premier, Jacinta Allan, announced on Monday the government would use extraordinary powers to fast-track the machete ban, which will remain in place until a permanent law takes effect on 1 September.
“In Victoria, community safety comes first. We must never let places we meet become places we fear,” Allan said.
“I hate these knives, and I will keep introducing as many laws as it takes to get them off our streets, out of our shops and out of our lives.”
Allan described the alleged incident at Northland as “appalling” and said it was “unfathomable as to why anyone would want to come in and disrupt families, disrupt retail workers”, many of whom were likely young people in part-time jobs.
“To disrupt people going about their lives on a Sunday afternoon is just unacceptable.”
The Victoria police deputy commissioner, David Clayton, later told reporters police alleged the incident was a “planned fight between two rival youth gangs”, each consisting of four members.
He said a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy – allegedly the “primary offenders” – were arrested at the scene. Both were charged with affray, intentionally causing injury and possession and use of a controlled weapon, and were remanded to appear at the children’s court on Monday afternoon.
A 20-year-old Thornbury man and an 18-year-old Bundoora man were also arrested on Monday and were being interviewed, while a 20-year-old man remained in hospital with serious head injuries.
Clayton said police had identified the others involved and more arrests were “imminent”.
He alleged a total of four machetes were used, with three seized by officers, and described the government’s ban on their sale as a “very good start”.
“It’s something that is a very rare occurrence, but youth gangs tend to play out their disputes in very public places,” Clayton said.
“We know that when we see knife attacks, one in 10 is committed by youth and it happens in a public area.”
Allan said the government first announced plans to ban machetes in March but, at the time, Victoria police advised that a six-month implementation period was the “safest” approach as it allowed time to establish an amnesty scheme.
Allan said after Sunday’s incident she was briefed on powers available under commonwealth consumer laws, which allow a state minister to impose an interim ban on the sale of certain goods.
The consumer affairs minister, Nick Staikos, said it was the first time these powers had been used to ban machetes.
“We are using whatever powers we have under Australian consumer law to ban the sale and the supply of machetes immediately,” he said.
He said Consumer Affairs Victoria would establish a taskforce to ensure compliance with the interim ban.
It would come into effect from 12pm Wednesday and apply to machetes, broadly defined as “knives with a cutting blade longer than 20cm”. It does not include knives primarily used in kitchens.
There will be no exemptions to allow the sale of machetes during the interim ban, as Australian consumer law doesn’t allow it, Staikos said.
Allan acknowledged it would affect some “legitimate users” of machetes but said community safety was her priority.
Retailers have been told to remove machetes from shop shelves and store stock in a safe location until the amnesty begins on 1 September.
The amnesty will run until 30 November, allowing Victorians to surrender machetes at 40 designated police stations across the state without facing penalties.
After the amnesty ends, machetes will be classified as a prohibited weapon in Victoria, and anyone found in possession of a machete could face up to two years in prison or fines exceeding $47,000. Exemptions will be available only for legitimate uses, such as agricultural work.
The opposition leader, Brad Battin, questioned the government’s initial delay in introducing the ban on machete sales.
“Why couldn’t you have done that in the past? Why couldn’t we have got machetes out of shops months ago?” he said.
Battin said the government “only acted today because it had no choice. It’s a decision born of political panic, not public safety”.
