Australians are calling for mass deportations instead of a machete ban after African gang violence erupted at a shopping centre in Melbourne.
Shocking images from an alleged clash between rival gangs at Northland Shopping Centre in Preston on Sunday showed an African male wielding a large machete, and on Monday Premier Jacinta Allan said the sale of machetes would be prohibited from 12pm on Wednesday.
The state’s full ban was announced in March after series of shocking alleged machete crimes, many involving African gangs, but is not due to come into effect September 1 when they will be classified as a prohibited weapon and a three-month amnesty will be put in place.
But thousands of upset Australians responded to the alleged Northland gang fight, which caused panic inside the shopping centre, by saying outlawing machetes was just a “band aid solution” and the government should deport immigrant criminals instead.
Premier Jacinta Allan has responded to the Northland machete attack with an immediate ban on machete sales, declaring she’ll pass “as many laws as needed” to make the state safe.
We did it everyone—safety achieved. pic.twitter.com/FxVGVQeBG0
— Australians vs. The Agenda (@ausvstheagenda) May 25, 2025
African, Afghan, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander and Burmese gangs have been involved in dozens of alleged violent incidents in recent years in Melbourne, and in 2024 Africans made up about 50% of those in youth detention despite being less than 1% of the population.
“Australia, or better yet, Victoria is not suffering from a machete crisis, it’s experiencing an empathic problem. It’s experiencing what many warned years prior but were labelled as ‘racists or bigots’. Mass migration has failed. Maybe it’s time we adopt mass deportations,” wrote political pundit Mickamious on X.
“Northland Shopping Centre Melbourne Victoria in lockdown. And the Australian Government keep importing these grubs, putting Australians at risk more and more each day. MASS DEPORTATIONS!” read a viral post by popular commentator Anthony Scalise after the incident.
And Ms Allan’s own X post on the sale ban was flooded with comments calling for deportations, with one person writing: “Why not address the root cause of this problem, instead of banning things?”
“How about ban African gang members? Like deport them? Jail them? Do something actually useful,” wrote another.
Melbourne’s in chaos — and we’re being fed bandaid solutions.
🔪 Machete attacks in Footscray, Northland & Dandenong⁰👮 A cop run down — offender granted bail⁰🛒 Gang brawls in shopping centres⁰🚗 Woman carjacked, struck with a machete — no arrests
Knife crime is up 20%… pic.twitter.com/X0CPChbCD4
— 2 Worlds Collide Podcast (@2worldsPodcast) May 26, 2025
Afghanistan veteran Sam Bamford, who hosts the 2 Worlds Collide Podcast, said Victoria’s bail laws were also to blame, pointing out a man charged with allegedly driving into a police officer was recently bailed in Melbourne.
“That’s not justice, that’s a coward system,” he said.
“Police are reportedly linking violent gang activity to groups with recent overseas backgrounds, but no one’s allowed to say that part out loud. The machete ban Jacinta Allan is putting in place – it’s not the machete that’s the problem, it’s the person wielding it.
“Banning the sale of machetes is a band aid fix. The real issue here? Mass unchecked immigration, soft bail laws and a government that refuses to deport offenders with overseas backgrounds.”
Victoria Police said on Monday the alleged Northland fight involved eight members of rival gangs, and it was also revealed that two youths arrested at the scene, aged 15 and 16, were out on bail at the time.
Both were charged with affray, intentionally causing injury, possessing and using a controlled weapon and committing an indictable offence while on bail, and were remanded in custody.
An 18-year-old arrested later was released on bail, along with a 20-year-old who was freed despite being on bail at the time of the alleged incident. A fifth man in his 20s remains in hospital with serious injuries.
Sources have told Noticer News that one of the gangs involved was predominantly African, while the other was made up of Pacific Islanders and Albanians, and police said both groups were “well known” to them.
The deportation calls come after a member of Melbourne’s most notorious African gang, Apex, was spared jail earlier this month despite being involved in a violent hammer rampage after being allowed to stay in Australia.
Victoria Police stopped publishing the nationality of offenders in crime statistics in 2018 after teaming up with the corporate media and immigrant community groups to deny there was an African gang crisis.
The then-deputy police commissioner Shane Patton, who was later promoted to Chief Commissioner during the state’s draconian Covid lockdowns, said at the time that the there was no African gang problem because “networked criminal offenders” were not technically “gangs”.
The last available crime statistics showed that Sudan and South Sudan-born offenders were overrepresented in crime statistics by a factor of 10 – committing 1.1% of the offences despite being 0.1% of the Victorian population.
They also committed 3.8% of aggravated burglaries, 8.5% of aggravated robberies, 1.5% of car thefts, 1.2% of common assaults, 4.9% of riot and affray offences, 1.8% of serious assaults, and 0.7% of sexual offences in the state.
Header image: Left, right, one of the youths arrested at Northland Shopping Centre (Facebook).
