The Victorian Government is seeking to address concerns from communities about serious crime with changes to laws regarding bail and machetes.
Bail reform will seek to address the issue of serious and repeat offenders being allowed out and machetes will be banned throughout the state.
“I have listened and I have acted. The tough bail laws will jolt the system: community safety above all, toughest bail laws ever, and consequences for breaking the rules,” Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said.
“These laws are targeted squarely at the risks of young people committing serious crimes while out on bail,” Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny said.
“We’re delivering tough new bail laws and we’re backing our hardworking frontline police – ensuring they continue to have what they need to keep our community safe,” Minister for Police Anthony Carbines said.
2024 saw a record number of knives seized in Victoria, so from 1 September 2024 machetes will be classified as a prohibited weapon, with anyone caught with them in their possession facing either two years imprisonment or a fine of over $47,000. There will be exemptions for legitimate uses like hunting and agriculture.
Machetes are currently generally considered to be ‘a cutting edge knife with a blade of more than 20 centimetres’ but the government will consult with industry before the ban begins in order to ensure kitchen knives aren’t included.
“Machetes are destroying lives so we will destroy machetes. The places we meet can’t become the places we fear,” Ms Allan said.
“I am listening and I am acting, with Australia’s toughest bail laws and Australia’s first machete ban,”
“Under my Government, community safety comes first and there are consequences for breaking the rules.”
An amnesty period for people to dispose of prohibited knives in secure bins outside set police stations will take place from 1 September to 30 November.
Police will also have enhanced random search powers through an amendment to the Terrorism(Community Protection) and Control of Weapons Amendment Bill currently with parliament, allowing the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police to declare a location such as a train station or shopping centre a designated search area for up to six months, up from only 12 hours. In a designated search area, police can search people for weapons without a warrant.
Mr Carbines this is Australia’s first machete ban, and they agree with police that it must be done once and done right.
“It took the UK 18 months – we can do it in six,” he said.
“We’ll always give police what they need to keep Victorians safe – we’ll build on the extra powers we’ve already given them and help them search for more weapons.”
Furthermore, the machete ban will tie in with the new bail laws which will implement tougher bail tests for serious and high-risk offences including; committing an offence involving controlled weapons, prohibited weapons offences, and offensive weapons offences (including machetes as well as items turned into or used as weapons such as baseball bats, kitchen knives and shivs).
Other offences that will now face tougher bail tests include serious gun and arson offences, non-aggravated home invasion and carjacking offences.
Senior Lecturer in Monash University’s Faculty of Law Dr Natalia Antolak-Saper said in the short term, tougher bail laws may give the perception of improved safety, especially in communities recently affected by violent or high-profile youth crime.
“These policies can act as political pressure valves, signalling swift government action and satisfying calls for public accountability,” she said.
“However, this is a classic example of ‘law-and-order’ politics: highly visible, reactive legal responses driven by headlines, police union lobbying, and public outrage rather than grounded in long-term evidence or structural reform,”
“It prioritises symbolism over substance, opting for incarceration as a shortcut to community safety, even when the research shows it is a deeply flawed strategy.”
The Victorian Government’s ‘tough new test’ will apply to all ages and ‘more offences’ than a similar test implemented in New South Wales which has more than halved the number of successful bail applications and will apply to offences including murder and aggravated charges of home invasion, burglary and carjacking
Under the government’s plan, bail won’t be granted to someone who is accused of committing a serious offence while already on bail for another similar offence – unless there is a ‘high degree of probability’ they will not reoffend.
Dr Antolak-Saper said what is often ignored in such approaches is that real safety cannot be achieved by locking people up alone.
“Long-term community wellbeing depends on addressing the underlying drivers of offending,” she said.
“Without parallel investment in diversionary programs that offer youth alternative pathways, particularly Indigenous-led initiatives rooted in culture and identity, fast-tracked trials to prevent people languishing in remand for low-level or open-and-shut cases and rehabilitation and reintegration, including education, employment access, housing, and therapeutic support ‘tougher’ bail laws will simply create a revolving door of remand and reoffending.”
The Victorian Government’s reforms aim to place ‘community safety’ as the ‘overarching principle’ for bail decisions and being detained will also no longer be considered a ‘last resort’ for accused youth offenders, which is currently the case under section 3B of the Bail Act.
Bail breaches will also be taken more seriously, with a new offence for ‘committing an indictable offence while on bail’, and offenders will have a tougher test of having to prove ‘compelling reasons’ to be allowed out on bail again. It will also be made a summary offence for breaching bail conditions such as failing to report or meet curfew, which can then be considered as a reason to refuse bail.
Dr Antolak-Saper said increased police discretion to oppose bail will put more pressure on frontline officers to act as gatekeepers.
“Higher remand rates will likely result, especially among vulnerable groups, potentially clogging police holding cells in rural areas,”
“There may be a short-lived effect on high-profile youth offending, but without rehabilitation pathways, recidivism may rise,”
“Police resourcing will become more critical, especially in regional Victoria where capacity is already stretched.”
The changes come after the Victorian Government ‘loosened’ bail reform less than a year ago following a coronial inquest into the death of First Nations woman Veronica Nelson while in custody.
Dr Antolak-Saper said this type of legislation creates the illusion of control while neglecting the complex, slow-moving work of justice reform.
“If we continue to rely on reactive policies driven by perception instead of principle, we risk entrenching cycles of incarceration without ever truly addressing the root causes of crime,”she said.
“There is a better way forward. Real reform means secure community remand hubs – custodial but therapeutic settings close to families – especially in regional Victoria, fast-tracked trials for youth and police and judicial education to balance discretion with equity and trauma-informed practice.’’
