Nothing like a good moral panic to make people throw reason out the window. Carrying a machete without a reasonable cause is already illegal and clearly didn't stop these people, banning them altogether will just make things hard for those who would use them legally.
It's the same level of thinking as some pelican near me who was calling for a 40km/h zone due to a recent accident. The existing laws against taking illegal drugs, stealing cars, staying on the road, and not speeding over the current limit didn't stop the guy who caused it, but he sure would have listened to a 40km/h sign...
As far as I’m aware there isn’t a thriving jungle expedition scene in Victoria
You don't know what people actually use machetes for, but they look scary so lets make a snide comment suggesting there's no reason to have them. That's exactly the sort of knee jerk reaction which makes for dumb laws like this.
There was actually this really cool news story that just came out about what people are actually using them for
There's been this really cool news story recently about what people are using foraged mushrooms for, better ban doing that pronto because it's clearly dangerous and there's no chance anyone else is doing it safely...