New laws to be introduced to parliament will give police powers to stop a person of interest
A crackdown on weapons crime will give police officers the power to strip guns from criminals and stop the sale of machetes to anyone under the age of 18.
Police & Courts
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Police will get sweeping new powers to strip guns from criminals and stop the sale of machetes to youth gang members.
Under a twin-edged Victorian government crackdown on weapons crime, barriers that have prevented police from issuing firearm prohibition orders (FPOs) will be removed and stronger safeguards will be introduced on the sale of machetes.
New laws to be introduced to parliament on Wednesday will give police powers to stop a person of interest in a public place and direct that they remain there or be held at a police station or other safe place for up to two hours while being served an FPO.
Currently, police are required to issue the order in person, which has proven challenging when an offender is avoiding police.
But under the changes police will also be able to apply to a magistrate for a warrant to enter a premises to search for and serve a person with an order.
Officers will also be able to post an FPO to an inmate’s home ahead of their release from jail.
Once someone is subject to an FPO they can have their homes and vehicles searched without a warrant at any time.
More than 2000 people are on firearm prohibition orders, with senior police saying they have altered Melbourne’s criminal landscape.
They believe FPOs have been a major factor in a downturn in gun attacks involving outlaw motorcycle gangs in recent years.
Police also frequently carry out FPO compliance checks and have used them to intervene in cases in which they have intelligence to suggest a shooting is imminent.
FPO breaches carry prison sentences of up to 10 years.
This has meant many criminals who might previously have kept guns at home or in their cars are now not willing to do so.
The Bill will also amend the Control of Weapons Act to formally call a machete a controlled weapon, meaning they cannot be possessed, carried and used without a lawful reason, or sold to anyone under the age of 18.
The state government has been facing calls to ban the weapon after a spate of shocking attacks including the alleged stabbing of 16-year-old Pasawm Lyhym in Sunshine last May and the horror abduction of 14-year-old Glen Eira schoolboy Benjamin Phikhohpoom in September.
Machetes can be legally used when clearing food crops, gardening or maintaining trails.
But now traders will be required to ask for proof of age at the point of sale in a move that police hope will keep the weapons out of the hands of young criminals.
One veteran police officer said: “They (shopkeepers) don’t care who they sell to … no questions asked. I think (the changes) are a step in the right direction.
“If you’re not hacking through sugar cane, there’s no reason to have one.”
Youth worker Les Twentyman said the machete move was “fantastic”, as it was “a national crisis that kids are tooled up like this”.
Police Minister Anthony Carbines said the reforms would force criminals out of the shadows.
“You can’t hide from Victoria Police,” he said.
“These changes that the government’s introducing will make it easier for police to track down and serve firearm prohibition orders.
“At anytime they can be stopped by Victoria Police, anywhere, anytime, in their vehicle, in the street … they can search you at any time.”
Mr Carbines said the government would also clear up the “ambiguity” around selling machetes to Victorians under the age of 18.
He said the government had considered a further tightening of the laws, such as requiring permits for machetes, but that it could lead to unnecessary restrictions for farmers.
“There’s been consideration of those matters but you could imagine across the state and agriculture farms, the likely significant use of controlled weapons in the community for legitimate purposes,” he said.
But opposition spokesperson for police Brad Battin said the reforms did not go far enough.
“We have said openly machetes should be a prohibited weapon,” he said.
“There is no reason any person should be walking along the Yarra River in Melbourne with a machete.
“There is no reason they should be walking through our communities in the growth corridors with a machete.”
Mr Battin said the Coalition would be going through the proposed changes “with a fine tooth comb”.
Libertarian MP David Limbrick also slammed the announcement, saying the proposed search powers only served to “undermine the rights of Victorians”.
“I don’t think that undermining the rights of Victorians is the way that we want to be tackling organised crime,” he said.
“This isn’t really about firearms, it’s about giving police the powers for warrant-less search and seizure on anyone that they choose.”
Mr Limbrick said the government needed to “tackle the root cause” rather than “the symptoms of organised crime”.
The penalty for carrying a controlled weapon without a lawful excuse is a fine of more than $23,000 or a year’s jail.
It is an offence for a person to sell a controlled weapon to any person under 18, with a fine of up to $3846.
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