Victoria Premier slammed for going MIA amid machete tragedy
One state’s leader has been accused of going “missing in action” as a bitter row erupts over bail laws and a controversial strategy after two boys’ violent deaths.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan is accused of being “missing in action” as MPs fire up over the machete deaths of two Melbourne boys.
Dau Akueng, 15 and Chol Achiek, 12, were walking from a bus stop in Cobblebank, Melbourne when they were fatally attacked by a group of people with machetes.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie slammed Ms Allan for introducing Machete Amnesty Safety Disposal Bins across the state just nine days ago in an attempt to curb violent stabbings.
“I think the Premier has gone missing in action for the last 48 hours because she knows her legislation around machete bins as a policy response is ludicrous,” Senator McKenzie told 7News on Wednesday.
“The idea that these criminals are going to be visited by Jesus on the street and somehow willingly drop these machetes into bins is just ridiculous.
“What the Victorian government needs to do, instead of putting up a set of bins and hoping for the best that the machetes will get off the street, (is) actually crack down and lock these people up.”
Senator McKenzie said preventive measures were needed, alongside harsher penalties.
“But we also need to make sure that if these sort of crimes are committed, that there is a tough, swift response from our police force but also political and community leaders make it very clear that this is unacceptable in any way, shape or form,” she said.
Victorian opposition leader Brad Battin said the state needed tighter bail laws, but police won’t “arrest their way out” of the crisis.
“A lot of these offences are being committed by people who are on bail, so we would introduce ‘break bail, face jail’,” Mr Battin told ABC News.
“There’s got to be certain offences that you can’t get bail, for any person at any time.
“One of the big things that we can do is … restore the funding for crime prevention, because you can’t just arrest your way out of it, there’s got to to be a crime prevention model.
“You can go over to Texas, you can go to London and Cheshire.
“These are places where they’re seeing a reduction in violent crime by engaging with these young kids at a different age and putting services, not just around the individual who’s committing the offences, but then their associates as well.
“It costs a lot less to keep a kid out of jail than to put a kid in jail.”
Victorian Labor MP Josh Burns defended the state’s machete ban and Ms Allan’s notable 48-hour silence before publicly addressing the tragedy.
“Making sure that these machetes are off our streets and making sure that the perpetrators are brought to justice has to be the thing that we all focus on right now to ensure that the lives of the two young men are honoured,” Mr Burns told 7News.
“I certainly understand the gravity of this situation, and this needs an urgent response by the Victorian government and by the Victorian Police.
“Anything that we can do as the federal government to support the police in bringing the perpetrators to justice, obviously we would stand ready to do, but ultimately, now that is the focus, and that needs to be the focus, is that the Victoria Police need to bring these people to justice.”
Originally published as Victoria Premier slammed for going MIA amid machete tragedy
