The Victorian government thinks banning machetes will stop violent crime, but one survivor knows the real problem is what happens after the attacks.

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He’s not calling for machetes to be banned. He’s after something far more obvious: punish the violent thugs who wield them.

Saurabh, an Indian immigrant who moved to Melbourne in search of a better life, was savagely ambushed at Central Square Shopping Centre in Altona Meadows. It was broad daylight. He’d just picked up his medication when five young gang members targeted him completely unprovoked.

“They wanted to take my phone, my belongings,” he told me. When he resisted, they bashed him to the ground. Then came the machete. “In an instinct of survival, I raised my arm — it cut through my wrist completely.” His hand was left “literally hanging by skin.”

The wounds are too ghastly to detail in full, but Saurabh was hacked multiple times as he begged the attackers to stop. He passed out from blood loss. “The footage is so horrific to watch,” police told him. Even worse: no one helped. He lay there for 22 minutes.

The Premier’s response to this and other incidents of gang violence sweeping across the city? Ban machetes.

Meanwhile, two of Saurabh's alleged attackers are already out on bail. One remains on the run.

One of the most shocking parts? Even after surviving what he describes as “an attempt to murder,” Saurabh says he's been left to fend for himself. “I still have to wait for a case manager to reach out to me and then discuss the possible pathway for future to get some respite or get some support out of the community or out of the government.” He’s in constant pain, barely able to walk or stand: “If I'm on my bed, I cannot, you know, simply walk out of the house and go for my appointments.”

This is what a Australia's most "livable" city looks like under Jacinta Allan.

If the Premier really wants to stop gang violence, she needs to start with actual punishment — not knee-jerk bans. The criminals didn’t care that machetes were illegal. They won’t care tomorrow either.

Listen to Saurabh. “We want to be safe in the community when we walk out of our homes.”