Large and dangerous blades will be removed from shop shelves in days in an Australian-first ban, sparked by a violent brawl forcing the lockdown of a busy shopping centre.
Shoppers were left terrified by a violent melee between rival gang members armed with machetes at Northland Shopping Centre in Melbourne's north.
Two boys, aged 15 and 16, have been charged while another man, 20, was rushed to hospital following the altercation on Sunday afternoon.
On Monday, Premier Jacinta Allan announced the laws, which bans the sale of machetes across Victoria, will take effect from noon on May 28.
"In Victoria, community safety comes first. We must never let places we meet become places we fear," Ms Allan told reporters.
"I hate these knives, and I will keep introducing as many laws as it takes to get them off our streets, out of our shops and out of our lives.""
The interim sale ban will cover machetes, which are broadly described as a cutting edge knife with a blade of more than 20 centimetres.
The purpose of the interim sale ban is to stop the supply of the items, before a possession ban comes into effect on September 1.
There will be no exemptions to allow the sale of machetes during the interim sales ban. It is a total ban on sales.
Retailers are advised to store excess stock in a safe location until the disposal, amnesty and exemption schemes for banned machetes starts alongside the prohibition coming into force in September.
The laws were rushed initially through parliament after Crime Statistics Agency figures showed there were 24,550 offences committed by children aged 10 to 17 in Victoria in 2024, the highest number since electronic records started being collected in 1993.
They were expected to take effect from September 1, giving police time to prepare for the changes, according to Ms Allan.
The laws include expanded police search powers for weapons.
There were about 18 aggravated burglaries on average recorded each day across the state in 2024 and car thefts spiked by 41.2 per cent to their highest level since 2002.
Harsher bail laws to respond to surging youth crime, aggravated burglaries and car thefts came into effect in April after being rushed through Victorian parliament by the Allan Labor government.
The teenagers involved in Sunday's brawl were charged with affray, intentionally cause injury, possess controlled weapon and use controlled weapon, and they have been remanded to appear in a children's court at a later date.
Superintendent Kelly Lawson confirmed the attack was not random, saying rival gangs had arranged a meeting at the centre's food court before the fight erupted.
"It is said to have been an act of retaliation," she told reporters outside the shopping centre on Sunday.
Police believe about 10 people were involved, some armed with knives.
There were no firearms involved.
"It was a chaotic scene," Supt Lawson added.
"It's really frightening for members of the public to go through this."
The centre was locked down during the incident as dozens of police officers responded and shoppers shared updates on social media.
The man taken to hospital is in a stable condition.
Two other males have since self-presented to hospital with injuries.
Supt Lawson said it would not take long to identify all the gang members involved.