Peta Credlin: Bloody machete melee emblematic of what’s going wrong with Australia

A bloody melee involving machetes is emblematic of what’s going wrong with Australia right now, writes Peta Credlin.

It was bad enough that six of the seven youths arrested after a wild, machete-wielding brawl at a Melbourne shopping centre last weekend were out on bail. But there’s also the issue of what this latest episode of out-of-control knife crime says about changes to society and weakness in government.

Knife crime like this is a recent scourge and yet, as machetes have been increasingly used in public attacks and as the weapon of choice in Melbourne’s home invasion crisis, there’s been little debate about what has changed in our culture. And what we might be able to do to tackle it beyond the Victoria Premier’s immediate ban on the sale of machetes, something she previously said was too hard to do straight away; but is still not banning the actual possession of a machete for months.

Because as willing as I am to see these weapons off the street, it’s not the blade that’s the problem so much as the person wielding it and why.

The wild, machete-wielding brawl at a Melbourne shopping centre last weekend. Picture: X

A school formal after party on May 16 descended into chaos after gatecrashers allegedly stormed the party armed with machetes in Adelaide’s northeast. Picture: 9News

This bloody melee is emblematic of what’s going wrong with Australia right now:

There’s the legal system that regards most criminals, especially criminals from “minority” groups or young people, as “victims” rather than dangerous law-breakers to be locked up; there’s governments that are more interested in being seen to “do something” than actually making change for the better; and there’s the long-term impact on Australian society of importing trouble via migrants from societies with quite different values who seem unwilling to adopt ours. Since when did youth gangs in this country settle their differences with machetes?

The machetes easily available for sale before the ban in Victoria, following a brutal stabbing brawl. Picture: Mark Stewart

Many of the gang members using these weapons or breaking into suburban homes and terrifying families might be people born and raised here but they do not share Australian values.

Somewhere along the way, the system has let us down and we’ve allowed governments to run an immigration program that’s gone from choosing people to settle here that have built our country and enriched our culture, as waves of migration has done throughout of history, to one that’s got us now fearing for our lives.

We are a proud immigrant nation, and so we should be, given the enormous contribution migrants have made to this country, but we have our head in the sand if we think we are getting it right at the moment. And we are seriously stupid, and heading for trouble, if we think we don’t have issues that need to be discussed about openly and honestly.

Right now, in Australia, immigration is three-fold problem that no politician wants to talk about.

Immigration is three-fold problem that no Australian politician wants to talk about. Picture: iStock

First, there’s the sheer volume of our immigrant numbers under Labor’s Big Australia push; because immigration at close to half a million a year puts downward pressure on wages, upward pressure on housing costs, and massive pressure on infrastructure and services.

Then, there’s immigrant selection because, far from being brain surgeons and rocket scientists, many of our supposedly “highly skilled” immigrants are working in the low wage jobs that many Australians largely refuse to do, particularly when our welfare system can be gamed instead.

And finally, there’s the values of the migrant we import into Australia because, despite making a citizenship pledge to Australia and its people “whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey”, respect for nonviolence and for women’s rights doesn’t seem very ingrained in some immigrant communities.

A clear expectation of renouncing old hatreds would help but this is contrary to our official doctrine of multiculturalism that seems to value all cultures except our traditional Anglo-Celtic one, and respects all values except our traditional Judaeo-Christian ones.

In the run-up to the recent federal election, there were grounds for optimism that our country might actually have an informed debate about how we tackle some of these issues. The Coalition’s position to reduce immigration numbers was a good one, so too calling out Anthony Albanese’s practice of standing in front of three flags, not just our one national flag, and acknowledgments of country that make many of us feel unwelcome in our own country.

The Coalition’s position to reduce immigration numbers was a good one but it was too anxious about offending migrant voters, and attracting false accusations of racism, to prosecute the case for unity over our diversity. Picture: NewsWire/Thomas Lisson

In the end, though, the Coalition was too anxious about offending migrant voters, and attracting false accusations of racism, to prosecute the case for unity over our diversity.

Every time I travel overseas to Britain and Europe, I am implored by well-meaning friends to ensure Australia avoids the position that so many of their cities and towns are in where they are no-longer British or French, or Swedish or Dutch in character. These are all countries that once successfully took in the citizens of the world and those new arrivals added to the success of their homeland; not so anymore.

Coming to Australia is not a right, it is a privilege. Around the world, less than 30 countries permanently settle refugees and Australia is one of the most generous. But unless we are honest about where we must improve the system, if we deny the legitimate debate about how we ensure our values are maintained, then we will reap what we sow.

THUMBS UP

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie – for pointing out the “massive hypocrisy at the heart of the Net Zero economy” given Australia exports coal and gas to China and India but wants to ban them here, denying us cheap and affordable power.

THUMBS DOWN

Drought help – where is the support for farmers as the drought worsens and mental health harm explodes?

Watch Peta on Credlin on Sky News, weeknights at 6pm