Latest news with #NickStaikos
The Advertiser
28-05-2025
- Politics
- The Advertiser
Machete ban enforcers slow to hit beat after mall brawl
An Australian-first ban on machete sales has sliced into action but enforcement officers are yet to hit the streets. Shoppers and workers ran for their lives when a wild fight broke out between machete-wielding rival gangs at Northland Shopping Centre in Melbourne's north on Sunday. The scare prompted Victoria to implement an exemption-less ban on the sale of machetes from midday on Wednesday. A task force of 14 people has been deployed to enforce the retail prohibition but its members won't hit the streets until Thursday. "They will be in the field tomorrow," Consumer Affairs Minister Nick Staikos told reporters on Wednesday. The formal ban notice features photos of six machetes as examples of banned items. It does not include a minimum length despite the government previously referring to machetes as being at least 20cm long. Consumer Affairs Victoria director Nicole Rich said the ban notice covered anything an "ordinary person" would understand to be a machete. "If you're in any doubt about whether a product is or isn't, it probably is a machete and I think you'd be safe to remove it from sale," she said. Some shops could be handed warnings for inadvertent breaches instead of facing civil or criminal penalties, but the regulator will deal with them on a case-by-case basis. Mr Staikos ruled out a buy-back scheme to compensate retailers for machetes that can no longer be sold, or to encourage crooks to hand in the dangerous blades. The interim sales ban can only be enacted for 90 days under commonwealth consumer laws, meaning it will expire five days before a full ban on possession and three-month amnesty period takes effect from September 1. Mr Staikos said he was in discussions with the federal government to extend the ban to cover the gap. Premier Jacinta Allan signalled the amnesty period could begin earlier if locked disposal boxes at 40 police stations are ready before the deadline. "If Victoria Police come to us and indicate that the arrangements have been put in place in that way, my door will always be open to any measure that strengthens community safety," she said. Victorian bail laws were tightened in April to respond to surging youth crime, aggravated burglaries and car thefts. The shopping centre incident has raised questions about their effectiveness after it was revealed at least four people charged over it were already out on bail. The final arrest was made on Tuesday night, with an 18-year-old Thornhill Park man since charged with affray and weapons offences. Other arrests made by police this week include an 18-year-old man from Derrimut and a 21-year-old man from Kew, who suffered head injuries during the clash. Police also arrested and charged two boys, aged 15 and 16, from Darebin and Melton, and two men, aged 20, and 21, from Thornbury and Bundoora. All were already on bail. An Australian-first ban on machete sales has sliced into action but enforcement officers are yet to hit the streets. Shoppers and workers ran for their lives when a wild fight broke out between machete-wielding rival gangs at Northland Shopping Centre in Melbourne's north on Sunday. The scare prompted Victoria to implement an exemption-less ban on the sale of machetes from midday on Wednesday. A task force of 14 people has been deployed to enforce the retail prohibition but its members won't hit the streets until Thursday. "They will be in the field tomorrow," Consumer Affairs Minister Nick Staikos told reporters on Wednesday. The formal ban notice features photos of six machetes as examples of banned items. It does not include a minimum length despite the government previously referring to machetes as being at least 20cm long. Consumer Affairs Victoria director Nicole Rich said the ban notice covered anything an "ordinary person" would understand to be a machete. "If you're in any doubt about whether a product is or isn't, it probably is a machete and I think you'd be safe to remove it from sale," she said. Some shops could be handed warnings for inadvertent breaches instead of facing civil or criminal penalties, but the regulator will deal with them on a case-by-case basis. Mr Staikos ruled out a buy-back scheme to compensate retailers for machetes that can no longer be sold, or to encourage crooks to hand in the dangerous blades. The interim sales ban can only be enacted for 90 days under commonwealth consumer laws, meaning it will expire five days before a full ban on possession and three-month amnesty period takes effect from September 1. Mr Staikos said he was in discussions with the federal government to extend the ban to cover the gap. Premier Jacinta Allan signalled the amnesty period could begin earlier if locked disposal boxes at 40 police stations are ready before the deadline. "If Victoria Police come to us and indicate that the arrangements have been put in place in that way, my door will always be open to any measure that strengthens community safety," she said. Victorian bail laws were tightened in April to respond to surging youth crime, aggravated burglaries and car thefts. The shopping centre incident has raised questions about their effectiveness after it was revealed at least four people charged over it were already out on bail. The final arrest was made on Tuesday night, with an 18-year-old Thornhill Park man since charged with affray and weapons offences. Other arrests made by police this week include an 18-year-old man from Derrimut and a 21-year-old man from Kew, who suffered head injuries during the clash. Police also arrested and charged two boys, aged 15 and 16, from Darebin and Melton, and two men, aged 20, and 21, from Thornbury and Bundoora. All were already on bail. An Australian-first ban on machete sales has sliced into action but enforcement officers are yet to hit the streets. Shoppers and workers ran for their lives when a wild fight broke out between machete-wielding rival gangs at Northland Shopping Centre in Melbourne's north on Sunday. The scare prompted Victoria to implement an exemption-less ban on the sale of machetes from midday on Wednesday. A task force of 14 people has been deployed to enforce the retail prohibition but its members won't hit the streets until Thursday. "They will be in the field tomorrow," Consumer Affairs Minister Nick Staikos told reporters on Wednesday. The formal ban notice features photos of six machetes as examples of banned items. It does not include a minimum length despite the government previously referring to machetes as being at least 20cm long. Consumer Affairs Victoria director Nicole Rich said the ban notice covered anything an "ordinary person" would understand to be a machete. "If you're in any doubt about whether a product is or isn't, it probably is a machete and I think you'd be safe to remove it from sale," she said. Some shops could be handed warnings for inadvertent breaches instead of facing civil or criminal penalties, but the regulator will deal with them on a case-by-case basis. Mr Staikos ruled out a buy-back scheme to compensate retailers for machetes that can no longer be sold, or to encourage crooks to hand in the dangerous blades. The interim sales ban can only be enacted for 90 days under commonwealth consumer laws, meaning it will expire five days before a full ban on possession and three-month amnesty period takes effect from September 1. Mr Staikos said he was in discussions with the federal government to extend the ban to cover the gap. Premier Jacinta Allan signalled the amnesty period could begin earlier if locked disposal boxes at 40 police stations are ready before the deadline. "If Victoria Police come to us and indicate that the arrangements have been put in place in that way, my door will always be open to any measure that strengthens community safety," she said. Victorian bail laws were tightened in April to respond to surging youth crime, aggravated burglaries and car thefts. The shopping centre incident has raised questions about their effectiveness after it was revealed at least four people charged over it were already out on bail. The final arrest was made on Tuesday night, with an 18-year-old Thornhill Park man since charged with affray and weapons offences. Other arrests made by police this week include an 18-year-old man from Derrimut and a 21-year-old man from Kew, who suffered head injuries during the clash. Police also arrested and charged two boys, aged 15 and 16, from Darebin and Melton, and two men, aged 20, and 21, from Thornbury and Bundoora. All were already on bail. An Australian-first ban on machete sales has sliced into action but enforcement officers are yet to hit the streets. Shoppers and workers ran for their lives when a wild fight broke out between machete-wielding rival gangs at Northland Shopping Centre in Melbourne's north on Sunday. The scare prompted Victoria to implement an exemption-less ban on the sale of machetes from midday on Wednesday. A task force of 14 people has been deployed to enforce the retail prohibition but its members won't hit the streets until Thursday. "They will be in the field tomorrow," Consumer Affairs Minister Nick Staikos told reporters on Wednesday. The formal ban notice features photos of six machetes as examples of banned items. It does not include a minimum length despite the government previously referring to machetes as being at least 20cm long. Consumer Affairs Victoria director Nicole Rich said the ban notice covered anything an "ordinary person" would understand to be a machete. "If you're in any doubt about whether a product is or isn't, it probably is a machete and I think you'd be safe to remove it from sale," she said. Some shops could be handed warnings for inadvertent breaches instead of facing civil or criminal penalties, but the regulator will deal with them on a case-by-case basis. Mr Staikos ruled out a buy-back scheme to compensate retailers for machetes that can no longer be sold, or to encourage crooks to hand in the dangerous blades. The interim sales ban can only be enacted for 90 days under commonwealth consumer laws, meaning it will expire five days before a full ban on possession and three-month amnesty period takes effect from September 1. Mr Staikos said he was in discussions with the federal government to extend the ban to cover the gap. Premier Jacinta Allan signalled the amnesty period could begin earlier if locked disposal boxes at 40 police stations are ready before the deadline. "If Victoria Police come to us and indicate that the arrangements have been put in place in that way, my door will always be open to any measure that strengthens community safety," she said. Victorian bail laws were tightened in April to respond to surging youth crime, aggravated burglaries and car thefts. The shopping centre incident has raised questions about their effectiveness after it was revealed at least four people charged over it were already out on bail. The final arrest was made on Tuesday night, with an 18-year-old Thornhill Park man since charged with affray and weapons offences. Other arrests made by police this week include an 18-year-old man from Derrimut and a 21-year-old man from Kew, who suffered head injuries during the clash. Police also arrested and charged two boys, aged 15 and 16, from Darebin and Melton, and two men, aged 20, and 21, from Thornbury and Bundoora. All were already on bail.
ABC News
26-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Expedited machete ban has all the hallmarks of a Victorian premier in survival mode
It took a brawl between machete-wielding young people at a suburban shopping centre to speed up Victoria's ban of long-edged weapons — not some well-developed policy process from Premier Jacinta Allan's government. It has all the hallmarks of a premier in survival mode, a government struggling to define and stick to its political narrative and a party still grappling with a law-and-order problem. The shocking images of hundreds of Melburnians fleeing the Northland Shopping Centre in the city's north horrified the premier and sprung her team into action to come up with a swift and meaningful, response. The fact the two teenagers alleged to be the main offenders were on bail at the time only added to Labor's pain. An "announceable" was needed. When the machete ban was flagged by the state earlier this year, an immediate ban was ruled out as too difficult to implement — it was too impractical. Now Victorians are being asked to believe that this has somehow changed, and that a ban can be put in place within three days. How will the state crack down on online sales? Machetes are readily available right now with the click of a button. During Monday's press conference Minister for Consumer Affairs Nick Staikos said he would "clarify" how online sales would be policed. Premier Allan said the sale ban would "choke" the supply of machetes until possession of the weapons becomes illegal later this year. The government will not budge on that timeline. "We are doing it as quickly as possible, but also as safely as possible,'' the premier said. That, she said, was based on the advice of police. A taskforce is now being hastily arranged to police the sale of the items for the next 90 days. How will this work? The government is still unable to say what specific items are banned, other than items that are "around 20cms". Amnesty bins need to be set up at police stations so people can surrender weapons. The fear within government circles was that had it just stuck to its September timeline for machete bans, it would have infuriated an already cynical public. In political circles up on Spring Street, there is debate about how big an issue crime is with voters. The Coalition is convinced it's a top-two priority for Victorians alongside cost of living. Opinion is more divided in Labor, but there is a consensus that it is a major distraction for the government. In parts of Melbourne it is also doing damage to the brand. The premier has certainly lent into being a tough cop on the beat with a big spending law and order budget and "the toughest bail laws" in the country. Labor needs to neutralise the crime issue, and at the moment is reactive to pressure to act. But the focus on crime is starving the government of attention on its narrative. And herein lies its problem. What is Labor's political agenda under Jacinta Allan? "When you're lacking a narrative, something will fill the void,'' one insider said. The premier has continued from her predecessor Daniel Andrews's agenda of hard hats and high vis. But the political climate has changed since Andrews stood down. The budget is in a precarious position and the popularity of Allan's pet project, the Suburban Rail Loop, is up for debate among voters and her own caucus. Andrews's tenure was not immune from crime crises, in response to youth crime issues it tried to send teens to adult prison. A policy that was ultimately shot down by the Supreme Court. But Andrews was able to focus on other issues while dealing with crime. The opposition staked its 2018 campaign on law and order and got thumped. But justice has gripped Premier Allan's government in a different way — crime is up and it's a third-term government. Expediting the machete ban is a win for the opposition. It gets to keep talking about an issue it wants every debate to be focused on. Banning machetes has been top of the opposition's to-do list for more than a year, including under the previous leadership of John Pesutto. "Labor has only acted today because it had no choice. It's a decision born of political panic, not public safety,'' current leader Brad Battin said. Another former leader — there's three in the party room of 32 — has been active on social media saying that he had warned people of the problem with youth crime in 2018. "Violent youth crime was a huge problem. Labor ignored it,'' Matthew Guy said on Instagram. "People believed them. It remains a huge and increasing problem today…'' The government stresses this not a political response, but a genuine response to community concerns about safety. But the quick-fire response, in the face of negative headlines highlights a trend where the government is reactive to loud voices. Government sources lament the lack of a proactive social policy agenda, and say there is little appetite for any reform. Labor usually kicks goals when it comes to education, and it's important because one million Victorian kids go to school. Instead, the government has withheld $2.4 billion needed to meet the full funding for Victorian schools under the Gonski model. "We're called the Education State, well it's in name only,'' one frustrated MP said. And just last week it quietly shelved plans for landmark poker machine reforms, the decision buried in the budget with pokies taxes forecast to rise not drop as in previous years. It's symbolic, MPs say, of a government that spends too much time responding to crises and stakeholders, rather than its agenda. Next year's state election shapes as an intriguing contest. Labor is gunning for an historic fourth term, but is carrying three terms of baggage, yet is still well placed to win thanks to a big parliamentary majority. It also has a proven campaign machine ready to go — as witnessed in the federal result. Labor's opponents also have a litany of internal issues, poor campaign infrastructure and a lack of policy beyond law and order. Two months ago, Liberal MPs were claiming that even "a drover's dog" would win the next election. Post-May 3 this analysis has disappeared, and some of the hubris halted.
News.com.au
23-04-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Home owners corporation fees: Victorians to get help to deal on payment plans, disputes as costs rise
Victorians struggling to pay owners corporation fees will be given advice on payment plans and dispute resolution as part of new mandatory fee notices. It comes after real estate agents across Melbourne's CBD and inner suburbs revealed significant numbers of apartment owners and landlords have been forced to sell in recent years as they grapple with rising owners corporation and other costs in recent years. The rising costs are also thought to have underpinned significant rental increases that have hit Melbourne's CBD, with latest PropTrack data showing the typical unit in the city now costs $650 a week — compared to just $380 a week in 2022. 'Disgust': Boomers unleash on crying Aussies Consumer Affairs minister Nick Staikos announced the new requirement for operators of owners corporations this week alongside the availability of an owners corporation hotline. Mr Staikos said the goal was to ensure owners got the advice and support they needed. 'These new owners corporation fee notices will ensure they get helpful advice and support about their options if they're struggling to pay their fees – not just a demand to pay up,' he said. The new notices will replace older forms to notify owners of overdue OC fees, with past formats no longer valid from this week. But, with the moves coming amid a wider state government push for more high-rise homes in Melbourne, Real Estate Institute of Victoria chief executive Kelly Ryan said more needed to be done around virtually 'unregulated' owners corporations in Victoria. 'It's always important to find ways to support people, we don't want to see people selling because the costs are too onerous,' Ms Ryan said. 'But that there's a problem at the end with the owner is a sign that there's a problem at the start with the owner's corporation. If we have got to that point where owners are getting payment plans, you have to go back a number of steps. 'If we are encouraging high-rise building in more locations, we need to get this right now. There's no point playing catch up.' Strata Community Association of Victoria general manager Susan Chandler said there were about 1.27 million people living with an owners corporation around the state and welcomed the new phone channel announcement as a 'practical step' in making them better understood. 'For many residents, especially first-time apartment owners, navigating strata rules can be overwhelming,' Ms Chandler said. 'A dedicated helpline provides a much-needed support bridge between communities and the government.' She added that payment plan options would help reduce the risk of buildings being left short by unpaid strata fees, improving the 'financial health' of many strata comunities — though they are still calling for the creation of a Victorian Strata Commissioner. Ray White Southbank principal Andrew Salvo said in recent years rising owners corporation fees adding close to $1000 a year to a typical two-bedroom apartment's annual costs — as well as interest rates and additional landlord costs in the form of meeting new rental minimum standards — had combined to drive sales in the CBD's apartment market. 'And it has led to rents rising as there were investors leaving the market and there was a supply issue with migration increasing,' Mr Salvo said. The agent said that in many cases the rising cost of owners corporation fees had been due to contracts being Consumer Price Index (CPI) linked, meaning a high-inflation environment had driven fees up. While payment plans for OC fees could give some owners an option, Mr Salvo said he didn't think it would have much of an impact given the significance of other costs around rental protections and interest rates. website or by calling 1300 558 181.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New crackdown on hated auction act
The Victorian government is cracking down on the illegal practice of underquoting house prices ahead of auctions. More than 20 inspectors part from the Consumer Affairs Underquoting Taskforce attended 20 auctions in Doncaster and surrounding suburbs alongside Consumer Affairs Minister Nick Staikos on Saturday as part of a fresh Autumn blitz to check compliance with underquoting laws. It is illegal for an agent to advertise or advise the price of a property that is less than the seller's auction reserve or asking price, the agent's estimated selling price or a price in a written offer that has already been rejected by a seller on the basis it was too low. The taskforce, which was launched in 2022 and became a permanent fixture last year, has fined over 160 real estate agents and issued more than 220 official warnings to those caught breaching obligations. Fines have totalled over $1.8m, the Victorian government said. Underquoting auctions was a leading real estate issue reported to Consumer Affairs Victoria, with more than 3,740 complaints issued from purchasers, real estate agents and buyers' advocates. Over 30 per cent of the reports were made by real estate agents. Officers attending the auctions across the Melbourne suburbs will check compliance with auction and sales rules with real estate agents and buyers, and monitor sales rules for potential underquoting. Mr Staikos said he wanted to crack down on the 'dodgy behaviour' of underquoting. 'Buying a house is already stressful enough, without the worry of also having your dreams dashed at the first hurdle by illegal underquoting,' he said. 'That's why our underquoting taskforce is hitting the pavement – to continue the crack down on this dodgy behaviour, making buying a home fairer and easier for all Victorians. 'Our new laws will further protect Victorians – with increased fines for underquoting offences and mandatory training for real estate agents and property managers.' Since its launch, the taskforce has monitored over 2,300 sales campaigns and attended 226 auctions. The Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill, which passed last week, increased the maximum penalty for underquoting to $47,422. Under Australian Consumer Law, underquoting can breach the ban on misleading and deceptive conduct and false representations. Sign in to access your portfolio
