‘Choke the supply’: Victoria bans machete sales after two ‘appalling’ incidents
Chilling footage has emerged of the bloody aftermath of a machete ambush in Melbourne’s south just hours before rival gangs triggered a shopping centre lockdown.
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The Victorian Government will ban machete sales within 48 hours in the wake of two “appalling” incidents on Sunday.
Emergency services were called to Northland Shopping Centre in Preston on Sunday afternoon following reports of two groups of men – some armed with knives and wearing ski masks – were engaged in a suspected gang fight, sending staff and shoppers fleeing.
Two teenage boys – a 16-year-old from the Darebin area and a 15-year-old from the Melton area – were arrested at the scene.
Earlier that day, a teenage boy was hospitalised following a separate violent stabbing in Wyndham Vale, in Melbourne’s southwest.
According to police, four men were seen chasing another through the streets of the suburb. When the victim ran to an address on Manuka Grove to seek help, he was attacked on the doorstep. Footage obtained by local outlet wyndhamtv.com.au showed the offenders fleeing the scene – with one carrying a bloodied machete.
The teenager, who sustained stab wounds to his chest and arm, was treated at the scene by paramedics and taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition. No arrests have been made.
‘Choke the supply’: Premier’s drastic action
Premier Jacinta Allan announced on Monday morning that as a result of both altercations, as of midday on Wednesday the state will introduce Australia’s first machete ban, preventing them from being sold anywhere in Victoria.
“Those knives are dangerous weapons. They have no place on our streets anywhere and that is why I will introduce as many laws to get these dangerous knives off the streets, which is why I’m announcing today that, effective immediately, we will be bringing in place a ban on the sale of machetes here in Victoria, and this ban will be in place from midday on Wednesday,” Ms Allan said at a press conference.
“Under consumer powers, using these powers, Victoria will be banning machetes from being sold anywhere in the state. We can do this now. We can move to bring about this ban on the sale of machetes as we move quickly and safely with Victoria Police on bringing about that Australian-first machete ban.”
The ban will be in place from May 28 until September 1, and applies to the sale and possession of all cutting-edge knives with a blade of more than 20cm. The possession of a machete will then be prohibited from September 1 onward.
“The purpose of this sale ban and bringing it in place now ahead of the amnesty and the work that’s been done to quickly and safely bring about Australia’s first machete ban is to choke the supply of these dangerous items as much as possible before the possession ban comes into place,” Ms Allan said.
“This is the toughest ban on the sale of machetes that has been put in place here in Australia and we can do it now because of the work that has already been done, the legislative work, the work with Victoria Police on the ban of possession that will follow it from 1 September.”
The Premier stressed there would be “no exemptions” to the ban.
“It’s a total ban on all sales everywhere right across Victoria,” Ms Allan said.
“We’re doing this today as quickly as possible because we must never let the places where we gather, the places where families come together to meet, to shop, to enjoy the peace of their weekend become the places we fear.”
Hero shopper performs citizens arrest
In a statement on Monday morning, police said they had charged two teenagers with affray, intentionally causing injury, possessing a controlled weapon and using a controlled weapon. They were remanded in custody to appear in children’s court.
A 20-year-old man who was rushed to hospital with serious injuries is in a stable condition, police said. Two other men injured in the fight later presented to hospital.
Within minutes of the brawl breaking out, one man was apprehended by a member of the public, who pinned him to the ground, as shown in the above footage.
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Another shopper could be seen in the footage tending to a man who was bleeding.
Victoria Police Superintendent Kelly Lawson said police arrived to a “really chaotic scene”, some six minutes after receiving the first call. Multiple units, including a special operations group, tactical response team officers and cops, descended on the Murray Rd shopping centre.
The “rival gangs” had prearranged to meet up in the food court, Supt Lawson told reporters on Sunday, adding it was “pretty disgraceful” that shoppers had been “exposed to this kind of behaviour”.
“It’s really frightening for members of the public to go through this,” she said.
“For the people here today it would have been horrific, and I really feel for them so we need to keep doing what we can to stop it.”
Supt Lawson earlier revealed the fight “is said to have been an act of retaliation … not just a random attack”.
“It’s happened in a busy shopping centre, so there clearly was a risk to the public, there’s always a risk to the public,” she said.
“But what the public need to take comfort in is that this wasn’t just some people that went out to attack general people with the public, they were attacking each other. It was planned.”
Anyone who witnessed the incident is being encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers.
The lockdown sparked chaos at the bustling centre, with patrons screaming and running for the exits or into surrounding stores after the fighting began, later sharing footage and photos of the incident to social media.
“The world is mad. Just got home from Northland!” one woman wrote on X.
“Was locked in a store room in Myer, staff were fantastic. Still shaken. Hope injured will be OK.”
“People were running and screaming and we had to close our doors to protect our customers and ourselves,” one retail worker and witness, Rodney, told The Age.
“Everyone was locking customers in to be safe. Then police came through and said, ‘Get behind us and we will take you out of the centre’.”
It was the worst violence he had seen in almost eight years working at the centre, Rodney said.
Another woman, Hanaa, had been sitting at Gelatissimo with her three-year-old daughter when the fighting “broke out in front” of them.
“We saw a man stabbed and bashed. We saw it all,” Hanaa told The Age.
She took her daughter to the back to the gelato shop and phoned police.
Liberal MP for the Northern Metropolitan Region Evan Mulholland urged people to avoid the area in a post on social media.
“Our shopping centres should be a safe place for families,” Mr Mulholland wrote on Sunday afternoon.
“Northland in particular is a destination for many families in the north. I was there with my own family yesterday.
“We continue our call for the Labor Government to enact the machete ban immediately.”
Supt Lawson said “there is no secret” police also want that ban in place “as soon as possible”.
“We are really concerned about the use of edged weapons, but we are doing all that we can in relation to that and to making public places safe,” she said.
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