Sale of machetes outlawed across Victoria after violent gang fights

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Victorian government's snap ban on the sale of machetes is now in effect, with retailers facing fines and potential jail time if they continue to sell them. A complete ban on owning machetes will come into force in September, which the state opposition wants brought forward.

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00:00this snap ban on the sale of machetes has just come into effect as of midday here in victoria

00:07that means that any retailer that is caught are selling long-bladed knives of more than 20

00:13centimeters and those knives not used in kitchens could face fines of up to two hundred thousand

00:20dollars and even possible jail time now we do know that many retailers have already been clearing at

00:27their shelves of these weapons ever since the premier just into allen announced this snap ban

00:33on monday but of course it is very easy to be able to buy these sorts of weapons with the click of a

00:40mouse the government is not giving too many details about how they're proposing to monitor those online

00:47sales however we have heard from online retail giant amazon and it says that it will make sure

00:55that it does all steps to adhere to this ban and particularly to stop any sales to victorian

01:02customers now jacinta allen did say that this was designed to choke the supply of these machetes

01:09ahead of a ban on the possession of machetes which is due to come into force in september but the

01:17opposition says that that is just simply too late for victorians and the shadow police minister david

01:24southwick says that he's going to be introducing a private members bill to get the possession of

01:31machetes banned straight away we've also heard from police who have been investigating this wild brawl

01:38in melbourne's northeast which prompted this snap ban in what police say was a pre-organized meetup between

01:46two rival gangs police say that they have now arrested all of the people they believe were involved

01:52in that brawl and that the ages of these people who have been charged range from just 15 years old through to 21

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