Afortnight ago, Victorian opposition leader Brad Battin thought he was heading into a good week. A video of brazen teenagers armed with machetes brawling in a shopping centre had spread like wildfire on social media.

Battin, a former cop, was relieved. It meant he could go back to the policy area he’s most comfortable in, crime, and put the blowtorch on the premier Jacinta Allan, who was forced to ban the weapons – a ban his party had urged for years.