The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has said the state’s machete ban is working, despite reports of a brawl on Saturday night in Melbourne’s north and the discovery of a teenager with serious injuries nearby.
Police were called to respond to a large group of males, aged in their late teens, fighting with machetes on Saturday evening, Det Sgt Matthew Feben told reporters on Sunday morning.
Feben said a group of more than 1,000 people were leaving the area after a community rugby event when a brawl broke out.
“It was quite heavily populated, the area, at the time,” he said.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
They found a 19-year-old male with serious stab wounds in his torso. He has been uncooperative with investigators, Feben said, and was in a stable condition in hospital on Sunday morning.
No arrests were made, as alleged suspects fled in vehicles before police arrived.
Detectives were investigating whether the fight was linked to another incident on Friday night when youths armed with machetes were spotted running through the three-day Harmony Cup event.
The Harmony Cup is a nine-a-side competition that gives players and volunteers a chance to represent their country of origin or local community.
Allan on Sunday said the state’s recent machete ban was working, with more than 5,000 weapons handed in at disposal bins and thousands more taken off shelves.
“We are getting more of these dangerous weapons off our streets than any other state,” she said.
“The machete ban is here and it’s staying. When the amnesty concludes, in a few weeks’ time, there will be severe penalties for anyone found carrying a machete.”
The statewide ban on machetes came into effect on 1 September. An amnesty allowing people to surrender the weapons at 45 disposal bins located in police stations is in place until 30 November.
After the amnesty window ends, those who carry machetes will face up to $47,000 in fines or up to two years’ imprisonment.
Allan said machetes and other dangerous weapons were “causing so much grief and concern in Victoria” but were being removed from the streets.
The opposition leader, Brad Battin, said it was “simply not good enough” that young offenders had allegedly ran through a sporting event, creating fear in the community.
Feben said the vision of Friday’s incident was “appalling” and police were very concerned.
“People that are just trying to go about an event in their community, who want to feel safe. They don’t want to experience this,” he said.
“It’s completely unacceptable in any location for youths or anyone to be armed with a machete, especially … in relation to a peaceful community event.
“Police are putting lots of time and energy into getting these weapons off the street.”
Feben said over the past 12 months, police had seized 13,000 edged weapons.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
