Amidst growing concerns over rising juvenile crime rates, a former Premier of Victoria has proposed a novel approach to rehabilitating the state’s most violent young offenders. Jeff Kennett, echoing the frustrations of many Victorians, suggests sending these youths to prison farms where they could learn valuable life skills while serving their sentences.

Melbourne has been grappling with an alarming surge in crimes involving knives and machetes, prompting widespread calls for action. Since the implementation of a statewide weapon ban in September, the city has witnessed a string of violent incidents. Among them, the tragic alleged stabbing deaths of two teenagers returning from basketball have particularly shaken the community.

The sense of fear and urgency was further heightened when a recent confrontation at Broadmeadows Central saw innocent shoppers fleeing as two young men armed with machetes clashed violently. This incident followed another alarming machete fight that erupted in broad daylight in the same shopping center’s parking lot, underscoring the pressing need for effective intervention.

As the community grapples with these unsettling developments, opinions remain sharply divided. Some leaders argue that the state government’s proposed measures, which include stricter detention policies for juveniles, could be seen as a societal failure by resorting to incarceration rather than rehabilitation. The debate continues over how best to address this crisis and ensure the safety and future of Victoria’s youth.

The incident just days after a terrifying machete fight between two groups of young males in the car park at the same shopping centre in broad daylight.

Community leaders are divided over the Labor government’s response to addressing the crime epidemic, where some claim that tougher proposed reforms of locking up juveniles instead of repeatedly granting them bail would be a ‘failure of society’.

Just weeks after a ‘p***ed off’ Kennett branded the state he led for much of the 1990s as ‘f***ed’, he was asked by 10 News Plus whether youths involved in violent crimes deserve another chance out on bail rather than being locked up.

‘Rubbish. We’re past that stage now,’ he said on Sunday.

Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett (pictured) wants youth offenders involved in violent crimes to serve time in prison farms

Thousands of Victorians are fed up with the escalating crime crisis involving knives and machetes across Melbourne. Pictured is a recent incident in the Broadmeadows Central car park

‘We’ve got to think about the rights of the public, the rights of the law-abiding 99 per cent of the community.

‘It’s alright for us to sit here and say, “Oh yes. What about A, B, C and D?”

‘But how does a family react when their son is macheted to death and you and I say, “But what about the rights of the offender?” 

‘They have no rights. They’ve lost their rights.’

Kennett is adamant a stint in a prison farm would be a wake-up call for juveniles.

‘I think getting out to a prison farm overseen by officers, where they can physically work, takes you out of the community, puts you into a place where you’re working physically during the day, educated in the evening, and you go and have a good night’s sleep,’ he said.

He partly blamed the state’s crippling Covid lockdowns as a contributing factor in Victoria’s youth crime crisis by disrupting their education.

Premier Jacinta Allan has recently introduced measures she insists will help reduce crime rates, including the tightening of bail laws and the recent machete ban.

Four teenagers were arrested after an allegedly stolen SUV – driven by a gang reportedly armed with machetes – was chased by police through Melbourne’s busy Bourke St mall on September 29

More than 20,000 weapons have been handed in in the last two months since the machete ban was implemented, according to the premier.

‘We know that the ban on machetes and the handing in of machetes is working because just through the machete bins alone, we’ve had more than 5,000 of these dangerous weapons handed in,’ Allan told reporters last week.

‘When you add to the ban on machetes and the strongest knife search powers, we are getting more of these dangerous weapons off our streets than any other state.’

But Kennett says it isn’t enough and went as far as to claim that Allan was ‘actually encouraging those who want to commit a crime to do so’.

‘There is no respect for the top. And the young people think it’s all a game,’ he said.

‘She needs to change her attitude. She can’t deny the obvious. 

‘We’ve got young men who are being macheted to death and we’ve got others being attacked in their homes. 

‘We’ve got vandals all over the place and people still running around our shopping centres wielding machetes.

‘How can she possibly say that the community is safe?’

A recent statewide ban on machetes and knives is working, according to Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan (pictured)

While former Victorian Chief Magistrate Nick Papas KC agreed that a core group of young offenders need to be locked up to protect the wider community, he’s against sweeping broader reforms.

‘If a kid has had six bails and uses machetes on six occasions to steal cars, sorry, time’s up. You can be warehoused, you can meet other criminals,’ he told news.com.au.

‘Let’s work out who we can save, let’s concede defeat with respect to the group of kids who can’t be saved. But that’s also an admission of complete defeat.

‘If our education system and social welfare systems have failed by allowing kids to become like this, then that’s an admission of failure in society.’

However, many Aussies welcomed Kennett’s prison farm proposal for juvenile offenders.

‘Finally someone talking sense! The only way to turn the crime around is by having consequences! The offenders are given way too many chances. These consequences should be Australia-wide and not just Victoria,’ one woman wrote.

Another added: ‘Consequences are placed on every action, right or wrong. None of this first, second or third time before action is taken.’