The shopping centre industry has welcomed the Victorian Government’s proposal to introduce new laws to address crime involving dangerous weapons including machetes and knives.
New legislation is proposed to ban machetes and expand powers which enable Police to conduct searches for dangerous weapons in designated areas for longer periods of time.
The Shopping Centre Council of Australia (SCCA) welcomed the proposed legislation as a further step to address increasing incidents of crime in retail settings including instances where people, including repeat offenders threaten, intimidate and cause serious harm to the community.
Angus Nardi, Chief Executive of the SCCA said: “Our industry welcomes the Victorian Government’s proposed new laws, and we look forward to further discussions on the details.
“Put simply, any proposal which seeks to remove dangerous weapons including machetes and knives which could be used to threaten, intimidate or harm people is a welcome step.
“Our recent industry survey highlighted the key ongoing social issue of people bringing dangerous weapons to our shopping centres to engage in aggressive, violent and criminal behaviour.
“Our industry looks forward to continuing to work with the Government and Victorian Police on these important public policy issues, to ensure community safety at our shopping centres and other retail settings. We also acknowledge and thank Victorian Police for their ongoing work and service to our community and their engagement with our industry,” Nardi said.
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