Victoria adopts Queensland-style random knife searches despite expert criticism
Victorian premier Ben Carroll announced police and protective services will receive handheld metal detectors to conduct random stop-and-searches for knives, mirroring Queensland’s Jack’s Law, despite warnings from scholars and rights groups.
Premier Ben Carroll said Victoria will introduce random handheld metal-detector searches for knives, providing police and protective services officers with 1,200 additional wands to be used in any public place starting early next year. The policy copies Queensland’s Jack’s Law, named after a teen stabbed in Surfers Paradise, and follows similar adoptions in Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Experts, including criminologists from Griffith and Swinburne universities and the Human Rights Law Centre, contend there is no proof the searches curb knife-related violence and warn they may infringe civil liberties, especially for Indigenous peoples.
The change overturns the previous Labor position under former leader Jacinta Allan, prompting criticism from Greens justice spokesperson Katherine Copsey and praise from Jack Beasley’s father Brett. Police minister Paul Edbrooke framed the powers as “anywhere, anytime,” while the government pledged to work with legal advisers to ensure the law is “watertight.”
Why it matters
It expands police powers in Victoria, raising concerns about effectiveness and civil liberties.
How the sides frame it
LOW AGREEMENTLeft-leaning coverage stresses expert criticism and civil-rights concerns, centrist coverage highlights the policy’s political borrowing and questions its effectiveness, while right-leaning coverage frames it as a dramatic policy reversal and election about-face.
LEFT
Left-leaning coverage foregrounds expert criticism and civil-liberty risks, portraying the policy as a risky reversal of Labor’s prior stance.
CENTER
Centrist coverage presents the policy as a political borrowing with little evidence of effectiveness and warns of potential racial profiling.
RIGHT
Right-leaning coverage depicts the move as a stunning policy flip-flop and election-time about-face aligning both major parties with Queensland’s law.
The left emphasises
- no proof the searches curb knife-related violence
- may infringe civil liberties, especially for Indigenous peoples
- overturns the previous Labor position
The right emphasises
- stunning policy reversal
- signs up to 'Jack's Law' in election about-face
- major parties aligning on laws pioneered by Queensland
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