Calls are growing for Victoria to urgently adopt Jack’s Law after the fatal stabbings of two boys, 12-year-old Chol Achiek and 15-year-old Dau Akueng, in Melbourne’s outer west.
A Change.org petition launched by Aimee Henderson — a close friend of Oscar Hamilton’s mother, whose 16-year-old son was also killed in a stabbing last year — has already attracted more than 9,000 signatures.
Henderson, who has attended two funerals of teenage knife crime victims in the past year, said Victoria could no longer afford to wait.
“By introducing Jack’s Law in Victoria, we can empower police, deter people from carrying knives, and save lives,”
Henderson wrote in her petition on Change.org.
Jack’s Law, named in honour of 17-year-old Jack Beasley, who was fatally stabbed on the Gold Coast in 2019, gives police the power to use handheld metal detectors (“wanding”) in high-risk public areas such as shopping centres and transport hubs.
According to the Queensland Police Service, in its first year, police conducted more than 5,200 operations, seized over 400 weapons and laid more than 250 charges.
Knife crime is rising sharply in Victoria, with more than 1,100 offences recorded last year, Victoria Police data shows.
In Victorian Parliament, Member for Eastern Victoria Renee Heath accused the state government of failing families by allowing repeat violent offenders back on the streets. Citing figures that show 25 young men under the age of 25 have died from knife attacks since 2020.
“Premier, you have shown Victorians that even when there is video evidence of offenders beating women with poles, you can still goosestep your way out of Victoria’s courts.”
Heath argued that weak bail laws have created a climate of fear so severe that some parents are sending their children overseas for safety. She accused Premier Jacinta Allan of hypocrisy, pointing out that neo-Nazis with video evidence of brutal assaults had been granted bail until one confronted the Premier directly, at which point bail was denied.
Heath also criticised the government’s $13 million machete bin scheme, describing it as ineffective and symbolic of misplaced priorities, with reports of bins failing to function properly and doing little to prevent knife crime.
She highlighted the contrast between this investment and the government’s cuts to youth crime prevention programs, noting that just two grants have been awarded in the past two years despite soaring youth crime and pleas from dozens of community groups for support. Calling for urgent evidence-based reforms, Heath pressed the Premier to act before more families are driven to extreme measures to protect their children from Victoria’s escalating youth violence crisis.
“Will you act before more families are forced to send their children overseas just to be safe from Victorian streets?”
The fresh push comes after a candlelight vigil in Melton this week, where hundreds gathered to mourn Chol and Dau.
The vigil heard emotional tributes from families. Chol’s father, Chuti Ngong, told mourners his son was “a lovely boy” who “loved everybody.” Dau, remembered as a rising basketballer, was described by mentors as a “really good kid.”
Premier Jacinta Allan confirmed her government is “looking at further police powers” and has not ruled out adopting Jack’s Law.
Opposition Leader Brad Battin said that the shocking killings underscored the need for stronger crime prevention measures, while police described the Cobblebank stabbings as “one of the worst” knife crimes they had seen.
Opposition leader Brad Battin has given a ringing endorsement of introducing a law that he believes would help curb Victoria’s growing machete problem.
The law gives police the power to use wands and metal detectors in public, without having to take out a warrant.
“It’s time we give police the power to go and get (knives from alleged criminals,”
he said on 3AW’s Sunday Morning.
Meanwhile, some families in Melbourne’s west are so fearful they have begun sending children overseas to escape the violence. Dr Berhan Ahmed, CEO of Africause, told 9News he has helped at least seven families relocate children to schools in Africa this year.
Henderson said in her petition that it was time to honour Jack Beasley’s legacy:
“Queensland acted. It’s time Victoria did too.”
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