Knife Crime in Australia 2026
Knife crime has dominated the Australian public safety conversation since a horrifying five-day stretch in April 2024 when seven people were killed in five separate knife-related attacks across Sydney, including the Westfield Bondi Junction mass stabbing and the Wakeley church attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel. These events triggered the most significant wave of knife-specific legislative reform in Australian history, with Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory, and Western Australia all introducing or expanding “wanding” powers, machete bans, and tougher possession penalties through 2024, 2025, and into 2026. Yet the empirical data tells a more complicated story than the headlines suggest. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data confirms that overall violent crime, including knife-involved offences, has been on a multi-decade downward trajectory consistent with the global “great crime drop,” and criminologists at institutions including Macquarie University have explicitly cautioned that “the overall rate of knife crime has remained relatively stable” at the national level despite intense media focus on individual catastrophic incidents.
What has genuinely changed — and what the 2026 Australia knife crime statistics confirm with hard numbers — is a sharp escalation in one specific sub-category: machete-related incidents, which have roughly tripled in Victoria between 2021 and 2024, from approximately 610 to 2,061 recorded incidents, driven substantially by youth gang involvement in street fights, carjackings, and aggravated burglaries. Victoria Police seized more than 16,000 edged weapons in the 12 months to early 2026 — a record figure, equating to approximately 47 knives confiscated every single day — while homicides involving any weapon nationally rose from 232 in 2022–23 to 262 in 2023–24, with knives remaining the most common weapon used in roughly 43% of all weapon-related homicides. The result is a genuinely two-track national picture: broad, long-run stability or decline in general knife crime rates, layered against a sharp, recent, and geographically concentrated surge in machete violence and youth offending that has prompted Australia’s first nationwide wave of dedicated machete prohibition legislation.
Key Facts: Australia Knife Crime Statistics 2026
| Fact | Data |
|---|---|
| Total homicides recorded nationally (2024) | 448 victims (+9% vs 2023) |
| National homicide victimisation rate (2024) | 2 per 100,000 (stable) |
| Total homicides involving any weapon (2023–24) | 262 (up from 232 in 2022–23) |
| Share of weapon-related homicides involving a knife | ~43% |
| Robberies involving a weapon (national, 2024) | 55% of all robberies |
| Robberies involving a knife specifically (most common weapon) | 35% of all robberies (172 victims) |
| Victoria: edged weapons seized (12 months to early 2026) | More than 16,000 (record high — ~47/day) |
| Victoria: previous record (year prior) | 14,808 edged weapons seized |
| Victoria: prohibited/controlled weapon incidents (year ending Dec 2025) | Above 11,000 |
| Victoria: machete incidents (2021) | ~610 |
| Victoria: machete incidents (2024) | 2,061 (roughly tripled in 3 years) |
| Victoria: child offender (10–17) incidents (year ending Dec 2025) | 25,275 (highest since 1993 records began) |
| Victoria: children’s share of all offenders | ~13% |
| Victoria: children’s share of most serious offence categories | ~63% |
| Victoria: young males’ share of machete incidents | ~40% (2 in 5) |
| NSW: knives confiscated in public places (past 12 months, 2024) | Almost 4,000 |
| NSW: Operation Foil single phase (Apr 11–13, 2024) | 51 knives/weapons seized; 145 charged |
| NSW homicide victims (2024) | 124 (+57% vs 2023) |
| South Australia: knife crime change (Q1 2025–26 vs Q1 2024–25) | −4.5% |
| South Australia: weapons surrendered in 3-month handback (Jul–Sep 2025) | 3,508 total (~38/day) |
| South Australia: machetes + swords surrendered (same period) | 2,823 (80% of all weapons surrendered) |
| Victoria machete ban effective date | 1 September 2025 (Australia’s first state-wide ban) |
| Victoria machete possession penalty | Up to 2 years imprisonment / $47,000+ fine |
| SA: under-18 sharp knife purchase ban | In effect (2025 reforms) |
| SA: prohibited sword/machete possession penalty | Up to $20,000 fine or 2 years imprisonment |
| NSW wanding powers — penalty for non-compliance | $5,500 fine |
| NSW: doubled max penalty for public knife possession (2023 reform) | From 2 to 4 years imprisonment |
| Jurisdictions where carrying a knife in public without excuse is illegal | ACT, Tasmania, SA, WA, NT (longstanding) |
| States/territories with active wanding powers (early 2026) | Queensland, NSW, Tasmania, NT, WA |
| Queensland’s Jack’s Law — trial to permanent | Trialled 2021; made permanent 2025 |
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Recorded Crime — Victims, 2024 (released 2025); Victoria Crime Statistics Agency, Crime Statistics — Year Ending 31 December 2025 (published 19 March 2026); Victoria Police media statements (2025–2026); NSW Government, Police wanding powers to tackle knife crime (December 2024); NSW Department of Communities and Justice, New measures to get knives off the street (2024); SA Attorney-General’s Department / Premier of South Australia, New data shows knife crimes fall in first quarter of 25/26 (October 2025);
The key facts behind Australia’s 2026 knife crime statistics reveal a national landscape defined by sharply divergent trends operating simultaneously. At the broad national level, the ABS Recorded Crime — Victims 2024 release confirms that overall violent crime patterns remain consistent with Australia’s long-term downward trajectory, with the national homicide rate holding stable at 2 per 100,000 even as the absolute number of homicides rose 9% to 448 victims. Knives remain entrenched as Australia’s most prevalent weapon of violence, used in 35% of all robberies — far ahead of any other weapon type — and accounting for roughly 43% of all weapon-involved homicides, a proportion that has been broadly stable or only gradually increasing for over two decades, according to Australian Institute of Criminology research tracing back to the early 2000s.
The more alarming and more current trend is concentrated specifically in Victoria, where machete-related incidents have nearly tripled in just three years, from around 610 in 2021 to 2,061 in 2024, and where the 25,275 child-offender incidents recorded for the year ending December 2025 represent the highest figure since Victoria’s electronic crime recording system began in 1993. This youth dimension is the single most politically and socially significant element of the current knife crime debate: while children aged 10 to 17 represent only around 13% of all offenders in Victoria’s crime statistics, they are disproportionately represented in the most serious offence categories, accounting for roughly 63% of incidents within that high-severity tier — a statistic that has driven sustained political pressure for youth bail law reform alongside the weapons-focused legislative response.
National Homicide and Weapon-Related Crime Trends in Australia 2022–2024
National Homicide and Weapon-Related Crime — Australia (ABS data)
2022-23 homicides w/ weapon |████████████████████████████ | 232
2023-24 homicides w/ weapon |█████████████████████████████████ | 262 (+13%)
2024 total homicide victims |████████████████████████████████████| 448 (+9% vs 2023)
2024 robberies w/ weapon |████████████████████████████ | 55% of all robberies
2024 robberies w/ knife |██████████████████ | 35% of all robberies
|---+---+---+---+---+---+---+------|
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
| Metric | 2022–23 | 2023–24 / 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicides involving any weapon (national) | 232 | 262 | +12.9% |
| Total homicide and related offence victims (calendar 2024) | 411 (2023) | 448 | +9% (+37 victims) |
| National homicide victimisation rate | ~2 per 100,000 | 2 per 100,000 | Stable |
| Robberies involving a weapon (any type, 2024) | — | 55% of robberies (272 victims) | — |
| Robberies involving a knife specifically (2024) | — | 35% of robberies (172 victims) | Most common weapon used |
| Family/domestic violence share of 2024 homicides | — | 39% (175 victims) | — |
| Knife share of all weapon-related homicides (long-run) | — | ~43% | Stable to slightly rising over 2 decades |
| Knife use in attempted murder (historical AIC trend) | — | 30–40% of cases | Higher than firearms or “no weapon” |
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Recorded Crime — Victims, 2024 (national release); stabvestaustralia, “The Rise Of Stabbing Incidents In Australia” (June 2025, citing ABS and Reuters data); Australian Institute of Criminology, ‘Knife crime’ in Australia: Incidence, aetiology and responses (Bartels 2011, historical baseline); The Conversation, “Weapons and violence” (February 2026)
The national-level homicide and weapon crime data present the clearest evidence for the “two competing narratives” that define Australia’s current knife crime debate. On one hand, the rise from 232 to 262 weapon-involved homicides between 2022–23 and 2023–24 — a 12.9% increase — and the overall 9% rise in total homicide victims in calendar 2024 provide genuine statistical support for public concern about worsening lethal violence. On the other hand, criminologists point out that the national homicide victimisation rate has remained flat at 2 per 100,000, meaning that population growth, not a genuine surge in lethality per capita, explains a meaningful share of the absolute increase in victim counts. Both interpretations are simultaneously true and represent the kind of nuance that has been largely absent from media coverage following the high-profile 2024 Sydney attacks.
The robbery data provides perhaps the clearest single data point establishing knives as Australia’s dominant weapon of opportunistic violent crime: 35% of all robbery victims nationally in 2024 — 172 individuals — encountered an offender armed with a knife, making it by far the most common weapon category, ahead of firearms, syringes, and other weapon types combined. This pattern is consistent with decades of Australian Institute of Criminology research, which found as early as the 2001–2009 period that knives were used more frequently in attempted murder than either firearms or “no weapon” categories — a finding that reflects both the accessibility of knives as everyday household items and their effectiveness as weapons of immediate, opportunistic violence compared to firearms, which require specific acquisition and are subject to Australia’s strict post-1996 gun control regime.
Victoria Knife and Edged Weapon Crime Statistics 2021–2026
Victoria Edged Weapon Seizures and Machete Incidents (Annual)
2021 machete incidents |████████ | 610
2022 machete incidents |████████████ | ~1,100 (est.)
2023 machete incidents |█████████████████ | ~1,600 (est.)
2024 machete incidents |██████████████████████████████████ | 2,061 (3× 2021)
2024 edged weapons seized |████████████████████████████████████ | 15,000+ (10-yr high)
2025/26 edged weapons seiz.|██████████████████████████████████████| 16,000+ (NEW record, ~47/day)
|------+------+------+------+------+---|
0 4,000 8,000 12,000 16,000
| Victoria Metric | 2021 | 2024 | Year ending Dec 2025 / early 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machete-related incidents | ~610 | 2,061 | Continued elevated levels |
| Total edged weapons seized (annual) | — | 15,000+ (10-year high) | 16,000+ (new record, ~47/day) |
| Prohibited/controlled weapon incidents | — | — | Above 11,000 (year ending Dec 2025) |
| Child offender (10–17) incidents | — | — | 25,275 (highest since 1993) |
| Children’s share of all offenders | — | — | ~13% |
| Children’s share of most serious offence categories | — | — | ~63% |
| Young males’ share of machete incidents | — | ~40% (2 in 5) | — |
| Machete classified as controlled weapon | — | March 2024 | — |
| Machete classified as prohibited weapon (full ban) | — | — | 1 September 2025 |
Sources: Victoria Crime Statistics Agency, Crime Statistics — Year Ending 31 December 2025 (published 19 March 2026); Victoria Police media statements via The New Daily (March 2025) and vicpolicenews.com.au (April 2026); Premier of Victoria, First Machete Ban In Australia (2025); The Nightly, “Machete ban as Victoria ramps up knife crime fight” (March 2025)
Victoria stands as the epicentre of Australia’s machete crisis, and its data is the most granular and most alarming of any Australian jurisdiction. The trajectory from approximately 610 machete-related incidents in 2021 to 2,061 in 2024 — a near-exact tripling in three years — reflects what Victoria Police acting Chief Commissioner Rick Nugent described directly as machetes being “increasingly used by youth gangs in street fights, assaults, carjackings, aggravated burglaries and home invasions.” The state’s response has been the most aggressive in the country: Victoria became the first Australian jurisdiction to classify machetes as a controlled weapon in March 2024, and then escalated to a full prohibited weapon classification effective 1 September 2025 — Australia’s first outright state-wide machete ban — carrying penalties of up to two years imprisonment or fines exceeding $47,000 for unlawful possession. The accompanying amnesty and buy-back scheme, modelled on Australia’s post-1996 firearms amnesty programs, was specifically designed to remove existing machetes from circulation rather than relying solely on future-facing criminal penalties.
The record-breaking weapons seizure figures — more than 16,000 edged weapons confiscated in the 12 months to early 2026, equivalent to approximately 47 knives or similar weapons taken off Victorian streets every single day — represent both a genuine escalation in enforcement intensity and an indicator of how widespread knife and edged-weapon carriage has become, particularly among younger demographics. The finding that child offenders aged 10 to 17 generated 25,275 incidents in the year ending December 2025 — the highest figure since electronic crime recording began in Victoria in 1993 — combined with the data showing children are responsible for roughly 63% of the state’s most serious offence categories despite representing only 13% of all offenders, has become the central justification for Victoria’s parallel push on bail law reform, with the government explicitly linking its knife crime response to broader youth justice and bail policy debates that intensified following the post-Veronica Nelson reform period.
New South Wales Knife Crime Enforcement Statistics 2024–2026
NSW Knife Crime Enforcement Activity
Knives confiscated in public (past 12 months, 2024) |████████████████████████████████████| ~4,000
Operation Foil single phase (Apr 11-13, 2024) |██ | 51 weapons
Operation Foil — people charged |████ | 145
NSW homicide victims (2024) |████ | 124 (+57% vs 2023)
Max penalty: public knife possession (post-2023) |████████ | 4 years (doubled from 2)
|---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---------|
(Relative scale by metric type)
| NSW Metric | Value | Period / Context |
|---|---|---|
| Knives confiscated in public places | Almost 4,000 | Past 12 months (as of late 2024) |
| Operation Foil weapons seized (single 3-day phase) | 51 | April 11–13, 2024 |
| Operation Foil charges laid (same phase) | 145 people | April 11–13, 2024 |
| NSW homicide victims (2024) | 124 | +57% (+45 victims) vs 2023 |
| NSW homicide — share family/domestic violence related | 38% | 2024 |
| Maximum penalty: public/school knife possession | 4 years imprisonment | Doubled from 2 years in 2023 reform |
| Wanding powers — non-compliance penalty | $5,500 fine | From late 2024 |
| Wanding powers — duration of designated zone authority | 12 hours (extendable) | Modelled on Queensland’s Jack’s Law |
| Wanding trigger threshold | 1+ weapon offence in past 6 months | In designated area |
| Minimum age to purchase a knife (raised from 16) | 18 | 2024 reform |
Sources: NSW Government, Police wanding powers to tackle knife crime begin this week (December 2024); NSW Department of Communities and Justice, New measures to get knives off the street and boost community safety (2024); Australian Bureau of Statistics, Recorded Crime — Victims, 2024 (NSW jurisdiction data); Mondaq Australia, “New knife laws in NSW – Will the changes reduce stabbings?” (May 2024)
New South Wales’ knife crime enforcement statistics reflect a state grappling with the direct aftermath of the April 2024 Bondi Junction and Wakeley attacks, both of which occurred within its jurisdiction and prompted the most politically urgent legislative response of any Australian state. The doubling of maximum penalties for public knife possession from 2 to 4 years in 2023 — implemented even before the 2024 attacks — was substantially reinforced by NSW’s adoption of “wanding” powers modelled directly on Queensland’s Jack’s Law, which came into effect in late 2024 and allow senior police officers to authorise warrantless scanning of individuals for concealed weapons in designated high-risk areas including public transport hubs, shopping centres, and nightlife precincts for periods of up to 12 hours. The almost 4,000 knives confiscated in public places over the 12 months following the reform package’s announcement provides direct evidence of enforcement intensity, while individual high-impact operations like Operation Foil — which seized 51 weapons and resulted in 145 charges in a single three-day phase in April 2024 — illustrate the kind of concentrated, intelligence-led policing NSW has deployed alongside the broader legislative changes.
The 57% surge in NSW homicide victims in 2024 — from 79 to 124 — is the most striking single statistic in the state’s 2024 crime data, though it is important to note this reflects the inclusion of the mass-casualty events from April 2024 within the annual count, meaning a portion of this increase is attributable to a small number of catastrophic incidents rather than a broad-based rise in homicide rates across the year. NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb’s own framing of the issue — stating explicitly that “knife crime is an issue that has been on the agenda across Australia and New Zealand for many months and years now. It’s not new” — reflects an official acknowledgement that the 2024 attacks, while genuinely catastrophic, occurred within a longer-running trend rather than representing a sudden, unprecedented departure from prior patterns.
South Australia Knife Law Reform and Early Outcomes 2025–2026
South Australia Knife Law Reform Outcomes (3-Month Handback Period, Jul-Sep 2025)
Total weapons surrendered |████████████████████████████████████| 3,508
Machetes surrendered |█████████████████████ | 1,653
Swords surrendered |████████████████ | 1,170
Machetes + swords combined |███████████████████████████████████ | 2,823 (80% of total)
Q1 2025-26 knife crime change |▼ −4.5% vs Q1 2024-25 |
|---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---------|
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000
| South Australia Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Knife crime change (Q1 comparison) | −4.5% | Jul–Sep 2025 vs same period 2024–25 |
| Total weapons surrendered (handback period) | 3,508 | 1 Jul – 30 Sep 2025 |
| Average weapons surrendered per day | ~38 | Same 3-month period |
| Machetes surrendered | 1,653 | Same period |
| Swords surrendered | 1,170 | Same period |
| Machetes + swords combined (share of total) | 2,823 (80%) | Same period |
| Under-18 sharp knife purchase ban | In effect | 2025 reforms |
| Prohibited sword/machete possession penalty | Up to $20,000 fine or 2 years imprisonment | 2025 reforms |
| New offence: supplying a knife to a child suspected of unlawful use | Created under 2025 reforms | 2025 |
Sources: SA Attorney-General’s Department, New data shows knife crimes fall in first quarter of 25/26 (October 2025); Premier of South Australia, same release (October 2025)
South Australia’s early data on its 2025 knife law reform package offers the clearest single piece of evidence in the national debate that legislative intervention can produce measurable, near-term results. The 4.5% reduction in knife crime in the first three months of 2025–26 compared to the same period of 2024–25 — while a modest percentage on its surface — represents a genuine and statistically meaningful early trend in the right direction, achieved within months of the reform package taking effect. The three-month knife handback period that ran from 1 July to 30 September 2025 generated 3,508 total weapons surrendered to police, an average of approximately 38 weapons handed in every single day, with machetes and swords combined accounting for 80% of everything surrendered — directly confirming that these specific weapon categories were the primary target of both the legislative reform and the voluntary surrender response from the South Australian public.
The structural elements of South Australia’s reform package are notable for their specificity: the ban on anyone under 18 purchasing a sharp knife under any circumstances closes a gap that existed in several other jurisdictions where age restrictions applied only to certain knife types or carried broader exemptions, while the new offence targeting any adult who supplies a knife to a child suspected of unlawful use represents a novel legal mechanism aimed at disrupting the pathway through which minors obtain weapons via parents, older siblings, or associates rather than direct retail purchase. With penalties of up to $20,000 or two years imprisonment for possession of a prohibited sword or machete, South Australia’s framework sits among the most stringent in the country, and the early −4.5% knife crime trend has been cited by the state government as preliminary validation of the approach, though officials and independent analysts alike have cautioned that a single quarter of data is insufficient to establish a durable long-term trend.
Australia’s Wanding Powers and Knife Law Reforms by Jurisdiction 2024–2026
Status of Wanding Powers and Machete Bans — Australian Jurisdictions (early 2026)
Queensland |████████████████████████████████████| Jack's Law: trialled 2021, PERMANENT 2025
NSW |████████████████████████████████████| Wanding active since late 2024
Tasmania |████████████████████████████████████| Wanding powers adopted
NT |████████████████████████████████████| Wanding powers adopted
WA |████████████████████████████████████| Wanding powers adopted
Victoria |████████████████████████ | Machete ban 1 Sep 2025; wanding under consultation 2026
SA |████████████████████████████████████| Under-18 purchase ban + machete/sword penalties (2025)
|---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----|
(Status indicator — not a quantitative scale)
| Jurisdiction | Wanding / Search Powers | Machete-Specific Law | Status as of early 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queensland | Jack’s Law (trialled 2021) | Sale ban to under-18s | Wanding made PERMANENT in 2025 |
| New South Wales | Modelled on Jack’s Law | Tightened possession penalties | Active since late 2024; 4,000 knives seized in 12 months |
| Victoria | Currently 12-hour zones; expansion to 6 months under consultation | First state-wide ban, effective 1 Sept 2025 | Wanding scheme expected to follow machete ban model in 2026 |
| South Australia | Existing public carry ban (longstanding) | Prohibited weapon status + under-18 purchase ban (2025) | −4.5% knife crime in Q1 2025–26 |
| Tasmania | Adopted | Public carry illegal without lawful excuse (longstanding) | Active |
| Northern Territory | Adopted | Public carry illegal without lawful excuse (longstanding) | Active |
| Western Australia | Adopted | Public carry illegal without lawful excuse (longstanding) | Active |
| ACT | Not adopted as of early 2026 | Public carry illegal without lawful excuse (longstanding) | No wanding scheme reported |
Sources: Victoria Crime News, “Knife crime and youth offending” (April 2026); The New Daily, “Australia-first machete ban to be fast-tracked” (March 2025); NSW Government media releases (December 2024); SA Attorney-General’s Department (October 2025); Premier of Victoria, First Machete Ban In Australia (2025)
The national landscape of knife crime legislation in Australia by 2026 reflects a striking degree of policy convergence across jurisdictions that have traditionally varied widely in their approach to weapons regulation. Queensland’s Jack’s Law — named after a teenager fatally stabbed in 2019, and the original model for the warrantless scanning powers that have since been replicated across the country — moved from a 2021 trial to permanent legislative status in 2025, providing the template that New South Wales, Tasmania, the Northern Territory, and Western Australia have all subsequently adopted in some form. Victoria has been the notable outlier in timing: the state pursued the machete ban first, becoming Australia’s first jurisdiction with a full state-wide prohibition effective 1 September 2025, while only moving toward formal wanding powers later, with a petition for such powers tabled in the Victorian Legislative Assembly in March 2026 and the Premier publicly indicating the government would introduce a wanding scheme alongside the existing machete prohibition framework.
The civil liberties dimension of this legislative wave has not gone unchallenged. Organisations including the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and the Police Accountability Project have raised explicit concerns about the practical operation of random-search powers, questioning how “designated areas” are determined and publicised, how complaints about disproportionate or discriminatory policing are escalated, and whether comprehensive data on stop-and-search outcomes — including the demographic breakdown of who is being searched — will be made publicly available on an ongoing basis. These concerns echo longstanding criminological research on the effectiveness and equity implications of stop-and-search policing more broadly, and represent the central unresolved tension in Australia’s knife crime policy debate heading into 2026 and beyond: whether the current wave of expanded police search powers and weapon prohibitions will deliver durable reductions in serious knife violence, as South Australia’s early data tentatively suggests, or whether — as critics including Macquarie University criminologists have warned — intensive enforcement focused on prohibition and search powers risks displacing rather than resolving the underlying social and economic drivers of youth violence that researchers consistently identify as the deeper root cause.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.
