Victoria is banning the sale of machetes from midday tomorrow; May 28, 2025. By September, even possessing one will be illegal unless you've got an exemption for farming or hunting. The move, sparked by a violent brawl at Northland Shopping Centre in Melbourne, is being pitched as a public safety win.
This is prohibition theatre. It's like trying to stop people from smoking weed by banning weed. People still light up! And they'll still get machetes. You're only scratching the surface with this one.
The Victorian government, under Premier Jacinta Allan, announced the machete ban as part of a broader crackdown on knife crime. The penalties are up to two years in jail or fines over $47,000 AUD. The law defines machetes as blades over 20cm (about 8 inches), and the government is giving folks until September to get rid of them; no charges if you surrender yours during the amnesty period (Sept–Nov 2025).
This was all fast-tracked after a brawl on May 25 where a machete left one man injured. It was shocking, sure. But is banning machetes really the fix?
To be fair, this isn't just a headline grab (though it certainly works as one). The state says it's about making these weapons harder to access and sending a message that machetes don't belong in suburban conflict. The hope is that fewer machetes means fewer violent incidents.
But hope isn't a strategy. Without enforcement, without addressing why people resort to weapons in the first place, it's just optics.
Banning machetes to prevent violence is like banning marijuana to stop drug use. Australia still has a huge cannabis culture, despite decades of prohibition. Why? Because making something illegal doesn't erase demand. It pushes it underground. People adapt.
Machetes are cheap, accessible, and easily imported or even homemade. When legal avenues close, black markets open. Victoria's borders aren't Fort Knox, and the internet never sleeps. Banning machetes doesn't stop violence; it just shifts where the weapons come from.
Weed prohibition didn't fix addiction or crime. This won't fix knife violence either. Because people don't lash out because machetes exist; they lash out because of poverty, alienation, trauma, or a lack of support. A blade is a tool. The real problem is the hand that wields it.
If someone wants to cause harm, they'll use whatever's available. A kitchen knife. A hammer. A broken bottle. While knives are the most common weapon in Australian homicides, the per-capita rate isn't surging; it's steady or falling [The Conversation].
The machete incident at Northland was a flashpoint, but it's a symptom, not the cause. If the justice system can't consistently enforce existing laws, why write new ones? Banning specific weapons just kicks the can down the road.
Experts keep saying the same thing: youth crime and street violence are rooted in socio-economic disadvantage, not weapon availability. Lack of education, job prospects, mental health support; all of it adds up to disconnection. That's what drives crime.
This is déjà vu if you remember the proposed social media ban for under-16s I talked about earlier this month [read it here]. Another glossy headline, same old avoidance of the real issues. Politicians love quick fixes because they look strong, even when they're weak policy. It's a PR win. It's also a long-term fail.
Victoria's machete ban might make some feel safer, but it's likely to do little more than shift the violence underground. Just like marijuana laws never stopped people from getting high, machete laws won't stop people from finding weapons; or reasons to use them.
If machetes are the scapegoat of the week, what's next? Politicians can keep outlawing tools; or they can start fixing the conditions that make people reach for them in the first place.
Fund programs that offer a way out; education, jobs, mental health support. Not just more jail time. And maybe, just maybe, enforce the laws already on the books before writing new ones.
If a law like this were to be enforced or passed, it should've been done after the Bondi Junction incident. 40-year-old Joel Cauchi stabbed twelve and killed six. SIX!! Among one was a fucking 9 month old! [Wikipedia] [AP News]
It wasn't done with a machete, but it was still a melee weapon. Stabbings like these happen a lot, but banning machetes won't do much.