Victoria’s decision to focus on banning machetes rather than confronting the deeper crisis of youth gang violence has come under fire after a wild brawl erupted at Northland Shopping Centre on Sunday, forcing terrified families to flee for their lives.

The Allan government announced an immediate ban on machete sales from midday Wednesday, with a full legislative ban set to take effect from 1 September. Premier Jacinta Allan said the state was acting after the “appalling” scenes over the weekend. “Community safety comes first,” she said.

But despite the urgency displayed by police and public outrage, the government has refused to bring forward the total ban. Allan insisted the move would “choke the supply of the dangerous weapons,” yet failed to acknowledge the worsening gang crime epidemic at the heart of these incidents.

Melbourne has become a third-world shithole pic.twitter.com/J4aoOUW5jj

— Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) May 25, 2025

Video footage from inside Northland shows chaos as shoppers screamed and ran. One witness, Ersilia, said, “When they (police) said ‘Run!’, that’s when I ran for my life.” Another said, “It reminded me of what happened in Bondi… seeing the machete and just how big it was.”

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A group of about 10 armed youths, some as young as 15, met to fight in the shopping centre after a prior altercation. Police later charged a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old with multiple offences, including affray and possessing a controlled weapon.

Victorian government talking about banning machetes. How about a ban on importing the kinds of people who attack people with machetes? As usual, we deal with the failures of multiculturalism by punishing everyone rather than abolishing the ideology of multiculturalism. pic.twitter.com/ndS3dTzwBI

— Stephen Chavura (@ChavuraStephen) May 25, 2025

Superintendent Kelly Lawson said, “It’s no secret that Victoria Police would like to see that put in place as soon as possible,” referring to the full machete ban.

Opposition leaders sided with the government on the ban approach, but went even further, demanding an immediate implementation of the full ban.

🔥 BREAKING 🔥

The sale of Machetes will be banned in Victoria from Wednesday.

African gangs will now use knives & axes instead. pic.twitter.com/V39iiyaupq

— Lozzy B 🇦🇺𝕏 (@LaurynBahen) May 25, 2025

“The safety of Victorians must be a priority and the ban on dangerous machetes must come into effect immediately,” opposition leader Brad Battin and MP David Southwick said in a statement.

While the state obsesses over banning a weapon, critics argue it is avoiding the uncomfortable truth: rising gang crime, largely involving African youth gangs, and a failure to address underlying immigration and integration issues threatening community safety.

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