In a bid to crack down on street crimes, Victorian government Thursday announced USD 1000.00 on-the-spot fine for people caught carrying knives and gave more powers to police to conduct random weapon searches in the Australian state that saw a spate of attacks on Indians.
The government, facing strong criticism over law and order situation in the state, particularly in the wake of several attacks on Indian students, expanded search and seizure powers to enable police to conduct random search for arms in designated public areas, such as train stations, without notice.
Under the three-point plan, minors will be banned from buying prohibited or controlled weapons.
Carrying a knife on licensed premises like bars and pubs will bring a USD 2000.00 on-the-spot fine, Victorian Premier John Brumby was quoted as saying by media reports Thursday.
"I believe it will be a major deterrent to those wanting to carry a knife," Brumby said adding, "We want to break the knife culture which has emerged in Victoria and in other states and around the world."
Under a proposed change in law, the onus of proof has been reversed to allow a fine to be imposed as soon as a knife is sighted by police.
The principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty will be turned around whereby one found to be carrying a knife will be "guilty until proven innocent", Brumby said.
Police have also been given new powers to carry out random search of public areas if they have reasonable suspicion that knives are being carried by people.
This is in addition to the recently given power to carry out planned searches of designated areas, Brumby said.
He expected that the new measures, drawn up in conjunction with police, would receive cross-party support in Parliament.
The steps have been taken because while there has been a downward trend in knife attacks in Victoria, the government is concerned that more young people were found to be carrying knives and knife attacks are inflicting graver injuries, he said. "That disturbs us greatly and we want to break that knife culture," he said.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Ken Jones said there was no quick fix to knife-carrying culture but new penalties were "a useful addition to the tools we already have".
The fines applied to knives and other prohibited or controlled weapons with an exemption for anyone using knives as part of their occupation. A fine can also be appealed against, the premier said.
Meanwhile, community policing initiative Crime Stoppers has also joined forces with Customs and Border Protection to curb import of illegal weapons. Police were already working with Customs through Crime Stoppers tip-offs and has announced a formal agreement under which they will pool resources to stop illegal imports at the borders.