Laws to ban the sale and possession of machetes in Victoria from September 1 and expand police search powers for weapons in designated areas passed parliament on Wednesday afternoon.
The upper house voted 29 to nine in favour of the legislation late on Tuesday night, before it was waived through the Labor-controlled lower house.
An exact definition of what constitutes a machete and exemptions for legitimate use were not included in the bill, although some farmers and hunters are expected to be eligible when finalised.
Sellers will also have to apply for an exemption to keep selling machetes past September 1, when a three-month amnesty will begin for people to legally dispose of the deadly items.
An opposition-led amendment to bring forward the ban by three months and immediately remove machetes from shelves failed after the Allan Labor government argued retailers were not ready.
"Many of the retailers are quite large operations, and in the way they manage their stores there would need to be an adjustment period for the way they handle these goods," Corrections and Youth Justice Minister Enver Erdogan told the chamber.
Mr Erdogan said 14,797 knives, swords, daggers and machetes were seized from Victorian streets in 2024, the most at any time over the past decade.
That equates to 40 blades every single day.
Opposition police spokesman David Southwick said the government could have ordered retailers to take machetes off shelves and put them back after the exemptions were worked out.
"We have product recalls for dangerous items," he told reporters on Wednesday.
"Every day these machetes remain on the shelves is another day the community feels unsafe."
It comes after about 200 people gathered outside Victorian parliament on Tuesday afternoon to protest tougher bail laws that the major parties are preparing to rush through.
The crowd heard from Indigenous, human rights and legal experts, who warned the proposed reforms would cost lives and jeopardise the safety of Indigenous people, women and children.
"The government introduced into parliament what they're claiming to be the toughest bail laws in the country," Human Rights Law Centre's First Nations Justice director Maggie Munn said.
"Imagine being proud of that.
"These laws follow a scary trend that is sweeping the nation to criminalise, incarcerate and punish people."
Victoria tightened bail laws in 2018 after James Gargasoulas drove into Melbourne's busy Bourke Street Mall in 2017 while on bail, killing six people and injuring dozens more.
A coronial inquest into the death of Indigenous woman Veronica Nelson in 2020 found the changes were a "complete and unmitigated disaster", sparking a relaxation of laws in March 2024.
Premier Jacinta Allan has since conceded the government "got it wrong" and vowed a crackdown on repeat serious offenders after youth crime offences hit a 15-year high.
The fresh bail law shake-up, dubbed the Tough Bail Bill, is expected to be put to a final vote on on Thursday and is all but assured to pass with bipartisan support.
22°C