Laws are to be rushed through the Victorian Parliament to ban the sale and purchase of machetes from September 1 to combat rising use.
There were 265 aggravated burglaries in the state over the past 12 months involving machetes.
The wide-bladed weapons were also part of three homicides in the past six months.
"The United Kingdom took 18 months to work through a ban on machetes," Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan told reporters on Thursday.
"We're doing this in six months."
Victorian police confiscated more than 15,000 edged weapons in 2024, a 10-year high, acting Chief Commissioner Rick Nugent said.
Machetes were increasingly being used by youth gangs in street fights, assaults, carjackings, aggravated burglaries and home invasions.
"We have far too many machetes in this state, and there are far too many incidents of their use," Mr Nugent said.
Under the legislation to hit the upper house next week, those caught carrying a machete would face up to two years in prison or fines of more than $47,000.
The state government has not yet settled on what constitutes a machete but said it can be broadly defined as a knife with a blade of more than 20cm.
A three-month amnesty will run from the day the ban takes effect, allowing people to dispose of machetes in secure bins at sites such as police stations without facing penalties.
"Machetes are destroying lives ... and we want to destroy machetes," Ms Allan said.
Exemptions after the ban will only be provided in limited circumstances, including for hunting and agriculture.
Victorian Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said there was no legitimate need for machetes on the streets, describing the weapons as "tools of terror and intimidation".
Machetes were made a controlled weapon in March 2024, meaning they could not be possessed, carried, or used without a lawful excuse or sold to anyone under 18.
But the Allan government has repeatedly blocked opposition moves since 2023 to introduce an outright machete ban.
"We take advice from Victoria Police, not from the opposition," Police Minister Anthony Carbines said.
The premier wants major retailers to stop ordering machetes ahead of the ban, and Victoria will write to the federal government to take action on imports and explore a national ban.
Victorian police are also set to be allowed to conduct random and targeted weapons searches in designated areas for up to six months.
Currently, police can only conduct searches in designated areas for up to 12 hours, the zones must be advertised, and they cannot return to repeat the process within 10 days.
Officers don't need a warrant to stop people, but Mr Nugent sought to reassure the public that police rely on "intelligence".
NSW recently made it an offence to possess or wield a knife in a public place or school, while Queensland has banned the sale of knives to people under the age of 18.
It is illegal to carry knives in public places without a lawful excuse in ACT, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
With AAP.
