Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Adjournment

Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Skills and TAFE, Minister for Water) (18:44): I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

Community safety

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (18:45): (1770) My adjournment is for the Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister for Local Government in the other place, Minister Staikos. Earlier this year the Premier announced, alongside my good friend in the other place the Minister for Police, a total ban on the sale of machetes across Victoria. This meant that stores were prohibited from selling any more machetes and were required to take down any machetes available. To ensure that this ban was being upheld a machete taskforce was assembled by Consumer Affairs Victoria, which would enforce the ban on machetes being sold in stores across the state.

The Allan Labor government is not just tough on criminals carrying machetes but also making sure that they do not have machetes in the first place. That is why initiatives like the machete taskforce are really important. The machete taskforce is tasked with going from store to store and ensuring businesses are complying with the machete ban. Where businesses are not complying with the ban, the taskforce has the power to penalise these stores accordingly. Community safety is a top priority for the Allan Labor government, and I am happy to see the taskforce is at work cracking down on machete sales. The action that I seek is for the minister to provide me with an update on the success of the machete taskforce and how it is making Victorians safer, particularly in my constituency of Southern Metro.