Former Victoria Police detective Charlie Bezzina has claimed machete attacks are being underreported as the Allan government’s ban on the weapon reaches its 12-month anniversary. He says the ban has only created a “lucrative” underground market for the weapons.
Ban anniversary marked by violence
Thursday marked the 12-month anniversary of Victoria’s ban on the sale of machetes, when Premier Jacinta Allan declared her government was “taking them off the streets”. A subsequent ban on possession was imposed from September 1, with the government creating a three-month amnesty period with machete drop-off bins installed outside police stations at a cost of $13 million.
According to media reports, four people have been killed and a dozen more injured in at least 40 fights involving the prohibited weapons in the year since the ban was imposed. But Mr Bezzina, a former homicide detective, said the real figures were likely to be much higher.
Underreporting concerns
“They control what goes out into the media… that crime is still there, and it's still on the increase,” he said. “The crime (stories) overnight has to come from the police. The media don’t hear about it – unlike the old days, where they had their police radios, and were going to these crime scenes.
“They're relying upon what they're told by the police, (who will) say, well, we don't report it (because) we don't want to instil fear. They are the facts.”
“And we are getting complacent. Murder used to make front-page news back in the day; murders make just before the sports pages these days.”
Government defends ban
The Allan government claims its reforms targeting the state’s crime crisis “are working”, and 18,000 weapons were surrendered by the Victorian public during the three-month machete amnesty program. But Mr Bezzina said the machete ban was always just a “PR stunt” that had done nothing to deprive criminals of their weapons.
“All they've done is drive the machetes underground, so the ones producing and obtaining the machetes are making a more lucrative amount by selling them,” he said.
“As is said by a lot of people, it's the honest person… that hand in their weapons - the gardeners, the handyman, the tradespeople have done that, and that's all they've done.
“So $13 million could have been spent better elsewhere.”
Call for tougher penalties
The former detective said there needed to be clearer penalties imposed on those who are actually committing the crimes. “It has to come down to penalty and consequences, and we're not reaching that mark at all,” he said. “Look where we are today with the arsons, the burnout of the liquor shops, the extortion is going on.”
