Thirteen million taxpayer dollars later, and the main achievement of Jacinta Allan’s machete amnesty bins has been the disarmament of Victorians who now have fewer choices when it comes to fighting teenage criminals in their living room.
It doesn’t take a genius to realise criminals have zero interest in surrendering their machetes in over-priced bins placed near police stations.
They are not accidentally committing crime because they happen to be in possession of a machete.
The Premier cannot re-run John Howard’s argument (agree with it or not) that guns were convenient, over-powered weapons used in domestic fights or suicide and that removing them de-escalates injury. Machete crime is the domain of young gangs, some of them embedded in first and second generation migrant communities. The weapons are acquired deliberately.
Where is the research that criminals are inclined to surrender their weapons (with no compensation) and that the community is made safer by homeowners being disarmed?
Is this research hiding somewhere next to soft-on-crime bail laws magically reforming violent offenders?
$13 million is a lot of public money to spend suppressing embarrassing headlines for a few months.
Don’t take my word for it, even the ABC called them out.
‘The government stresses this is not a political response, but a genuine response to community concerns about safety. But the quick-fire response, in the face of negative headlines, highlights a trend where the government is reactive to loud voices.’
There have been a few ludicrous graphs floating around this week in the wake of yet more machete attacks attempting to claim that Victoria is actually safer than usual.
Crime statistics aren’t much good when most crimes go unattended.
It’s easier to obscure the crime stats by failing to arrest criminals or, even better, not sending them to jail so politicians can point to a graph and say, ‘See! The jails are empty! What crime!!!’
That would be like Keir Starmer’s UK arresting thousands of people for non-crime tweets and then claiming hate speech is more of a problem than phone theft.
Even then, it is widely held that theft and violence are on the rise.
The fact that Google automatically completes the search field: machete Melbourne [shopping centre] is a failure from which the Labor government should not survive.
Considering pretty much everyone who raises a machete in a shopping centre or home invasion is on bail for dozens of charges, the culprit is not the machete but the bleeding-heart bail laws.
There are two ways to make Melbourne appear safer: either fail to arrest and imprison criminals (so their crimes do not exist on paper), or jail them after their first offence so they cannot go on to commit hundreds more.
Plenty of youth workers continue to insist that these are all good kids who just need a hug to stop them committing grand theft auto, machete attacks, home invasions, and sexual assault. Interviews with offenders suggest something very different. Crime has been idolised and rewarded. Many of these kids want to keep offending and until they are given the fright of their lives with an extended stay in prison, they will never reform.
At the end of the day, helping criminals recover from their addiction to smash-and-grab behaviour is not the major concern of society. It is the protection of law-abiding citizens who deserve justice.
As a society, the Left flipped the victimhood argument so that criminals can now enjoy the status of oppression.
That must change immediately.
Enough is enough.
Young or old, if you are attacking someone with a machete you are a criminal and you should be in jail. Make punishment great again. I’d be in favour of hard labour, something young people fear the most. Send them out to clean up the railway lines or pick up rubbish. For months at a time. They will never touch a machete again.
And let’s get some proper Castle Laws in place so that offenders know they face a real personal safety risk when they smash a window.
Self-defence, with lethal force, should be a human right inside your own home against those who break in. Put it to a vote. The vast majority of people agree. For our entire human history people have been allowed to defend themselves, it is only left-wing arrogance that believes differently.
There is a pretty solid argument that giving people machetes to defend against criminals would have been more effective than machete surrender bins.
Oh, and if you are wondering why this isn’t an easy win for the Battin-Liberals … they flip-flopped on machetes and the public remember.
In response to a post about machete amnesty bins, Opposition Leader Brad Battin posted in March:
‘Machetes banned… from September? That’s half a year away. If Labor brought in tougher action on machetes when we asked for it (November 2023, February 2024, March 2024) they’d already be off our streets. Instead, we were blocked. Labor aren’t serious about making Victoria safe.’
Machetes banned… from September? That's half a year away.
If Labor brought in tougher action on machetes when we asked for it (November 2023, February 2024, March 2024) they’d already be off our streets.
Instead, we were blocked. Labor aren’t serious about making Victoria safe. https://t.co/oEaOR8Kofl— Brad Battin MP (@BradBattinMP) March 13, 2025
There are plenty of other quotes from the Liberals.
‘The safety of Victorians must be a priority and the ban on dangerous machetes must come into effect immediately. The Liberals and Nationals are prepared to work with the Premier to make this happen in Parliament this week.’
‘Dear Labor, ban machetes now! Back the Liberals’ bill to ban the sale and possession of machetes before it is too late. Every day the ban is delayed, lives are at stake.’
It was only when the public called the whole thing out as ridiculous that the Battin Opposition pivoted and tried to exploit it politically.
Suddenly Battin was all…
‘Machete bins? That’s Labor’s crime plan? Our plan? Jack’s Law, Break Bail Face Jail, and more police on the streets. We’re not the same.’
That was from September 24.
Machete bins? That’s Labor’s crime plan.
Our plan? Jack’s Law, Break Bail Face Jail, and more police on the streets.
We're not the same.— Brad Battin MP (@BradBattinMP) September 24, 2025
You can see the evolution of messaging by comparing the half-way house tweet from September 1.
‘Only Labor thinks a six-week amnesty and machete drop off bins will stop attacks like this. Honestly, are they kidding? The only way to stamp out knife attacks is through more police, crime prevention, investment, an immediate machete ban, and Break Bail, Face Jail. It’s not that hard.’
Only Labor thinks a six week amnesty and machete drop off bins will stop attacks like this.
Honestly, are they kidding? The only way to stamp out knife attacks is through more police, crime prevention investment, an immediate machete ban, and Break Bail, Face Jail.
It’s not that… https://t.co/VlNiGU524X— Brad Battin MP (@BradBattinMP) September 1, 2025
What happened to principled policy, strong politicians, and ideological coherency?
We appear to have two political parties, red and blue, floating around between press headlines with no competency. And if the real reason that our governments are ineffective against youth crime is the over-powered activist framework and soft judges, then the political conversation should move to shaming and expelling them from the system so that real progress can be made.
Otherwise, what is the point of having politicians?
