Butter knives, kitchen scissors among items surrendered to machete bins
The government says the cost of its machete bin amnesty program came in at $6.55 million and collected more than 12,000 weapons.
Victoria's machete bins collected over 12,000 knives and machetes after the state imposed a ban on the weapons. Manufactured at a South Australian prison, the blue bins were installed at police stations around Victoria. The government claims the machete amnesty program cost half the projected total, but the exact expenditure remains undisclosed.
The bins, created by prisoners at the Mount Gambier Prison operated by G4S, were trucked to Melbourne in three batches over two weeks last year. Butter knives, along with kitchen scissors and guns, were among the weapons surrendered. The bins were rolled out to police stations when the ban took effect in September 2025 to encourage safe surrender of knives amid a crackdown on violent knife crime.
The government faced criticism for its opaque handling of the $13 million program, with opposition parties questioning its cost and effectiveness. The amnesty program cost $6.55 million, revealed through Freedom of Information laws. The bins, made in three batches, were installed at 45 stations instead of the initially planned 58.
G4S expected costs of $865,500 to $1.2 million, including labor, operations management, and transportation. The remaining budget funded a multimedia public awareness campaign to encourage knife handovers. Victoria Police seized over 11,200 knives, machetes, and other weapons in 2026 as the opposition and Premier Ben Carroll introduced further anti-knife crime measures, highlighting the ongoing knife crime issue leading up to the state election.
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