Speaker 1: Well, good morning Melbourne. It is just gone seventeen away.
Speaker 1: Tomiroles Smith there, you're on the air with Jason Lauren
Speaker 1: Clint's here as well. Very special one of these.
Speaker 2: Today, Jason Lawrence, tell me what you know.
Speaker 1: We love the Victorian Police. We catch up with different
Speaker 1: areas of the cops. I went diving with the water Police.
Speaker 1: We normally have Cheesy, our resident friendly cop in Today
Speaker 1: we've got his boss, commanded. Tim Tully's joining us on
Speaker 1: the YIR Good Morning team.
Speaker 3: Good morning morning to him. Thanks for being here.
Speaker 4: You've had a lot of silverware on your shoulders.
Speaker 3: It's a heavy burden a bit.
Speaker 4: Ye, you've got a big job, don't you.
Speaker 3: Looking after Cheesey. Yes, he's a great lad. He is
Speaker 3: a good man che he really is.
Speaker 4: But we're excited to have a big dog commander.
Speaker 2: It's a big day here in Victoria. We've heard a
Speaker 2: lot about the machete band which comes into place at
Speaker 2: midday in the wake of what was quite distressing scenes
Speaker 2: at Northland at the weekend. A Victoria Police ready for
Speaker 2: this machete ban.
Speaker 5: Yeah, as ready as we can be in terms of
Speaker 5: the interim ban. So as of midday today there's an
Speaker 5: interim ban on the sale of machetes, which is effective
Speaker 5: right across the state. That's a complete ban on the
Speaker 5: sale of machetes from midday. As I said, it's certainly
Speaker 5: an interim ban until the permanent legislation is introduced and
Speaker 5: permanent ban comes into effect on the firstest.
Speaker 1: What would be the difference then when the permanent band
Speaker 1: comes in.
Speaker 5: Certainly the legislation comes into effect on the first of September,
Speaker 5: so the interim ban, we hope, will choke the immediate
Speaker 5: supply of machetes and hopefully prevent some of those getting
Speaker 5: out onto the street at the moment in preparation for
Speaker 5: the legislation that's introduced in them versus September.
Speaker 6: So, as police officers, does this just give you an
Speaker 6: extra thing to do to go around to all those
Speaker 6: stores that are selling them and make sure they're doing
Speaker 6: the right thing and they're not selling them.
Speaker 5: My understanding is that the enforcement in that space we
Speaker 5: have retailers that are selling machetes in defiance of the
Speaker 5: interim ban, that will be something for the Consumer Affairs
Speaker 5: Task Force to look into. So the enforcement activities will
Speaker 5: be carried out by them, But that certainly will not
Speaker 5: stop the police looking or continuing to target people who
Speaker 5: are carrying machees.
Speaker 2: So it's not police going door to door. It's going
Speaker 2: to be consumer affairs Victoria.
Speaker 3: Is it absolutely?
Speaker 6: Which is good because you have enough on your plate.
Speaker 6: You don't need to be policing what's happening in retail store.
Speaker 5: And that's correct, and certainly we will assist where we can,
Speaker 5: but it's consumer affairs taskles that.
Speaker 4: We listen to that Do you think this is going
Speaker 4: to make a difference.
Speaker 5: I hope it will make a difference. And certainly anything
Speaker 5: we can do to choke the supply and stem the
Speaker 5: supply and flow of machetes or large deeds weapons out
Speaker 5: into the street is a step in the right direction.
Speaker 6: Because when we see things like what happened at Northland
Speaker 6: and you hear stories about it being a fifteen year
Speaker 6: old kid or a sixteen year old kid. Are those
Speaker 6: kids currently allowed to go into a retail store and
Speaker 6: buy a machete?
Speaker 3: Can? No? No? I mean so they've got.
Speaker 6: Them, they've acquired them illegally anyway, Absolutely so, is it
Speaker 6: is this the right step forward?
Speaker 5: Look, it is a step in the right direction in
Speaker 5: terms of trying to stem the flow. Most certainly, we
Speaker 5: look forward to the permanent band that comes into effect
Speaker 5: on the first September and the range of other changes
Speaker 5: to the legislation that will also asist.
Speaker 4: It's a step in the right direction, exactly.
Speaker 1: It's better than nothing, Tim Commander, This is quite personal
Speaker 1: to me because I was involved in quite a violent
Speaker 1: crime about a year and a half ago. If someone
Speaker 1: lost their life and I can finally talk about it,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to on the show tomorrow, but I've
Speaker 1: been quite frustrated with how long this has taken, and
Speaker 1: I can imagine you guys must.
Speaker 3: Be just as frustrated. Look, why don't things get turned
Speaker 3: around quicker? Look, it's a good question.
Speaker 5: I suppose with any issue that issues, there are a
Speaker 5: number of factors and issues that need to be considered
Speaker 5: before we make wholesale changes to legislation. It certainly is
Speaker 5: a welcome change. The legislation that comes to effect later
Speaker 5: this year is a welcome change. You know, it can
Speaker 5: be frustrat but you know, we have to make certain
Speaker 5: that any changes to the legislation that are made, we're
Speaker 5: factored in all the different stakeholders and all the different permutations.
Speaker 5: So we don't cause other issues as a direct result.
Speaker 2: There is already so much which is driven underground. Are
Speaker 2: you concerned that knives, machetes, violent weapons will be driven
Speaker 2: underground by this bent Look.
Speaker 3: It's possible that will occur.
Speaker 5: I think if you look at the classification of machetes
Speaker 5: under the new legislation, it puts them in the sphere
Speaker 5: of a prohibited weapon. There are a control weapon at
Speaker 5: the moment, and without getting into the definitions, that's where
Speaker 5: they will end up, certainly with a prohibited weapon. If
Speaker 5: you do not have an exemption, you cannot bring into Victoria,
Speaker 5: you cannot cause to be brought in Victoria. You cannot manufacture,
Speaker 5: you cannot display or sell a prohibited weapon.
Speaker 1: Well, I was just gonn as when we talking about machetes,
Speaker 1: because we're ining this conversation off the air yesterday.
Speaker 3: What's classed as a machete?
Speaker 4: Well, I say, I wouldn't even know what a machete, hunting.
Speaker 3: Knives, all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 5: Look, I think a machete will have a definition in
Speaker 5: terms of the length of the blade, and certainly what
Speaker 5: we've seen what traditionally I think you know when I
Speaker 5: was growing up, but I was around. Machete was at
Speaker 5: a certain size and shape, and what you've seen in
Speaker 5: recent times, they've certainly become you know, very very far
Speaker 5: removed from what we were traditionally called a machete that
Speaker 5: perhaps could be used in some form of employment. Certainly
Speaker 5: they're gaining popularity online sales and the like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know the styles.
Speaker 4: Of being sold online as well.
Speaker 3: I think that's an area that will need to be
Speaker 3: looked at.
Speaker 2: Someone's caught with the machete as of mid day to
Speaker 2: day on the streets, the clearly shouldn't have one.
Speaker 3: What happened?
Speaker 2: What recourse do you have?
Speaker 5: So if someone today is found in possession of a
Speaker 5: machete on the streets, it is still a controlled weapon
Speaker 5: and they must have a reasonable excuse to actually do that.
Speaker 5: So they must carry it in a secure manner that
Speaker 5: is consistent with the lawful excuse. So a lawful excuse
Speaker 5: will be lawful employment. It could be a sport or
Speaker 5: a lawful recreation, or could be a legitimate display or collection.
Speaker 5: It is most certainly not for self defense.
Speaker 6: Can you arrest someone for having someone or do you
Speaker 6: confiscate it if they've got it for the wrong reasons?
Speaker 4: What powers to the police.
Speaker 5: So I certainly there may be arrest powers there. Certainly
Speaker 5: we can confiscate that. Certainly there are some search powers,
Speaker 5: so we need to believe in reasonable grounds and possession.
Speaker 5: There are other powers in terms of any search warrants
Speaker 5: that we may have or if it's in a designated
Speaker 5: area where we can actually search without reasonable.
Speaker 3: And this is.
Speaker 2: The first type of it's you know, the first ban
Speaker 2: of its type in Australia. Remember the gun amnesty going
Speaker 2: back into the nineties. This akin to the gun amnesty.
Speaker 5: I think it could be in a way, So there's
Speaker 5: a I think if you're going to have an amnesty,
Speaker 5: then what you need to put in place.
Speaker 4: What's an amnesty?
Speaker 2: Sorry, you're basically in the way of the Port Arthur
Speaker 2: mat Yeah, hand and you get exactly handing into the
Speaker 2: guns that you.
Speaker 5: Can do that obviously without comitting an offense. So to
Speaker 5: actually do that you need the infrastructure and the processes
Speaker 5: in place, and you need to be able to communicate
Speaker 5: that to the community so they can actually attend a
Speaker 5: place lawfully carrying it to actually hand it in. Certainly,
Speaker 5: we don't want people, you know, at the moment walking
Speaker 5: into police stations with machines and things like that.
Speaker 3: We need, you.
Speaker 6: Know, we need you made a plan and it must
Speaker 6: be hard for you guys when things like this come
Speaker 6: in so quickly, because there's been some criticism of the
Speaker 6: Victorian government that this is a knee jerk reaction and
Speaker 6: it's a band aid and it's actually putting the police
Speaker 6: under more pressure.
Speaker 5: Look, I think it's in our nature to pivot in
Speaker 5: terms of the changes that come in as best we
Speaker 5: possibly can. We understand that these things take time. But again,
Speaker 5: I think the band today is a step in the right.
Speaker 1: Well, team, you guys are working around the clock and
Speaker 1: I know you spread thin already. Thank you for the
Speaker 1: job you guys do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you do an amazing job. Thank you very much,
Speaker 4: and just quickly.
Speaker 6: It must be frustrating when I know, I mean, I'm
Speaker 6: outraged at these kids that were allegedly in this fighting
Speaker 6: at Northland were out on bail, that you guys basketballs
Speaker 6: to go and arrest them again and then they get
Speaker 6: some of them get released back into the community. Do
Speaker 6: you sometimes just put your hand in the air and go,
Speaker 6: what are we doing this for?
Speaker 5: Look, I think the new bail laws are certainly assisting
Speaker 5: it's a step in the right direction. Again, it's certainly
Speaker 5: made a difference, and we've.
Speaker 4: Seen that, so you have seen that it's made a
Speaker 4: different rebsolutely.
Speaker 5: And I appreciate that our members sometimes get frustrated, but
Speaker 5: I think they're very passionate about what they do.
Speaker 3: Absolutely otherwise they wouldn't be.
Speaker 1: Can't we just go back to the eighties where can
Speaker 1: be like I've lost of the keys to the paddy
Speaker 1: wagon they left to stay in there.
Speaker 3: It doesn't work. That doesn't work like that.
Speaker 2: Just very quickly, why are we seeing an explosion in
Speaker 2: these violent attacks at shopping centers? Well, why do you
Speaker 2: think the gangs are going to public places like this?
Speaker 5: That's a really good question and I wish I knew
Speaker 5: the answer. So certainly, when we have these types of incidents,
Speaker 5: I think it's fair to say that they're not common.
Speaker 5: But when we do have them, quite clearly they're in
Speaker 5: a public environment and they impact on the community who
Speaker 5: are just going about their business. It's very sad to
Speaker 5: think that, you know, we have rival gangs that whatever
Speaker 5: conflict or whatever issue is there, they think it's appropriate
Speaker 5: to go out to a very public place and undertake
Speaker 5: the behavior that we saw on the weekend.
Speaker 3: I wish I knew the answer. I wish I knew
Speaker 3: the answer to that.
Speaker 1: It's a different world.
Speaker 2: People should feel safe.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well that's what I was going to say.
Speaker 6: People are scared now to go to shopping, SeNSS to
Speaker 6: go to these high traffic areas. Is that something Victoria
Speaker 6: Police are looking at having a bigger police presence in
Speaker 6: these really busy spots.
Speaker 5: So I think what you'll see over the next couple
Speaker 5: of days into the next couple of weeks that Northland
Speaker 5: will have a visible policing presence and reassurance.
Speaker 4: Patrols, just to make sure that that makes people feel.
Speaker 5: Absolutely we want to feel safe when they go about
Speaker 5: their normal business and day to day activities. I think
Speaker 5: some of the new legislation that will come in in
Speaker 5: terms of designated areas for a longer period of time
Speaker 5: rather than say for the twelve hours that we've seen,
Speaker 5: we'll make a difference as well.
Speaker 1: Hey, we really appreciate your time this morning when I
Speaker 1: was busy, commanded Tim Tully joining us on the air.
Speaker 3: Thanks coming in, Tim, Thank you very much for my pleasure.
Speaker 6: Victoria Police do a great job. We appreciate all of
Speaker 6: you in frustrating and difficult.
Speaker 2: Jason really straightened up. He was like, I've got a
Speaker 2: call him commander.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I actually went out and asked him for a hug.
Speaker 3: And what did he say, Well, you're
Speaker 6: Not Lauren l wake up feeling good following them on
Speaker 6: the socials