Victoria Police will be able to stop and search anyone in Melbourne’s CBD and nearby suburbs without a warrant for the next six months, with the new powers kicking in this weekend.
The CBD and parts of Docklands, Southbank, the sporting and entertainment precinct, and East and South Melbourne have all been declared a “designated area” from 30 November 2025 to 29 May 2026 under the Control of Weapons Act.
In a statement to PEDESTRIAN.TV, a Victoria Police spokesperson said this is the first area to receive a declaration for this length of time under recent changes to the Act, and confirmed that further safety measures will roll out in the CBD ahead of the powers starting on Sunday.
“These operations are an invaluable tool in assisting police with removing weapons from the streets, as knife crime in Victoria has risen,” the spokesperson said, adding that earlier weapons search operations in the CBD this year “have led to the seizure of a significant number of edged weapons – preventing community harm”.
Police say that in the designated area they will have additional powers to search a person without a warrant using an electronic wand, asking them to remove items from bags or pockets and outer clothing, or conducting a pat‑down, and that vehicles can also be checked. “To declare a designated area, there must be either an extensive history of weapon‑related offending in the area, or police intelligence that indicates this measure will prevent likely offending,” the VIC Police spokesperson said.
Civil liberties and legal organisations argue the move goes too far and risks making random searches feel routine. Liberty Victoria has described the six‑month CBD declaration as “an abuse of police powers” and “a fundamental erosion of human rights”, with president Gemma Cafarella telling 9News that “the use of the ‘designated area’ powers will allow police to circumvent the usual legal safeguards against unwarranted police intrusion” and that “normally, police require reasonable grounds to suspect that a person is carrying something illegal or prohibited before they can be searched”.
Inner Melbourne Community Legal chief executive Nadia Morales told Guardian Australia the decision is a “vast overreach” and “complete overkill”, warning that it means “a police officer or protective services officer can stop and search anyone, no questions asked, at any time in the CBD and its surrounds”.
Advocates are particularly worried about who will be stopped most often. Liberty Victoria has cited data from the Racial Profiling Data Monitoring Project and warned the powers will “disproportionately be used against First Nations people and other people of colour”.
In its statement to PEDESTRIAN.TV, Victoria Police said it has “zero tolerance towards racial profiling” and that “our officers are well trained to police in response to a person’s behaviour, not their background”, adding: “If you aren’t carrying a weapon, you don’t have anything to worry about.”
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