For the next 182 days from this Sunday 30 November 2025 until 29 May 2026 every single person who walks, rides, drives or catches a train through central Melbourne (See below) will be presumed suspicious enough to be searched for weapons.
No crime needs to have been committed. No intelligence briefing needs to be shown to a judge. No specific threat needs to be named.
All that is required is that you happen to be inside an invisible line that now stretches from Carlton Gardens to Southbank, Docklands to Richmond. Step inside that line and Victoria Police can demand you empty your pockets, remove your jacket, open your backpack, submit to a pat-down, or walk through a metal detector simply because they can.
Welcome to the new normal, brought to you by the very same Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities that was meant to protect Victorians from this kind of state overreach.
The Charter, turned upside-down
Section 7(2) of the Charter says human rights can only be limited when the government can “demonstrably justify” the restriction in a free and democratic society. The Allan Government has decided that keeping a weapons search zone in place for half a year longer than the entire summer, the Australian Open, Easter, Anzac Day and the first half of the footy season is “demonstrably justified.”
They have offered no evidence of an imminent wave of knife violence that uniquely requires half a million daily CBD visitors to be treated as potential offenders. They have not pointed to a single intelligence assessment, crime spike, or terrorist plot. They simply declared it, and the Charter once hailed as Victoria’s mini Bill of Rights has been used as the legal fig leaf to make it happen.
Guilty until you prove yourself innocent
In any courtroom in this state, the prosecution must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. On the streets of Melbourne from Sunday, the reverse now applies. You must prove your innocence on demand.
Refuse to turn out your pockets when asked? You can be arrested for obstructing police. Refuse to remove your hoodie or sunglasses? You can be directed to leave the city centre entirely and arrested if you come back. Carry a stanley knife for work, a Swiss Army knife on your keyring, or even a pair of scissors in your pencil case? You had better hope the officer believes your explanation, because the burden is now on you. This is the presumption of innocence stood on its head.
The right to walk down the street unaccosted
There was a time when the most basic freedom in a liberal democracy was the right to simply walk down a public street without being forced to justify your existence to an armed agent of the state.
That freedom has now been suspended for six months across 14 square kilometres of Australia’s second-largest city.
Commuters heading to Flinders Street Station. Teenagers going to the State Library. Office workers grabbing lunch on Collins Street. Families strolling through the Botanic Gardens. Protestors, buskers, tourists, every single one of them now carries the invisible label: “May be carrying a weapon until proven otherwise.”
A precedent that will become permanent???
History shows that “temporary” security powers rarely stay temporary. The 12-hour designated-area power introduced in 2007 became 6-month zones in 2025. Give it a few years and the next escalation will be 12-month zones, then permanent zones, then the whole of Greater Melbourne.
Each time, the Charter will be quoted to assure us it is “reasonable” and “proportionate.” Each time, the ordinary liberty of walking through your own city without being stopped and searched will diminish even further.
This is not public safety. This is control.
If the government genuinely believed the CBD was about to descend into a war zone of knives and machetes, they would tell us why. Instead, they hide behind bureaucratic declarations and the Charter’s escape clause.
The message to every Victorian is clear, your ancient right to be left alone in public, unless there is evidence you have done something wrong, has been traded away. The very document that was meant to protect that right has instead been used to bury it.
From Sunday, the streets of central Melbourne will no longer belong to the people. They will belong only to those willing to submit to a search to prove they deserve to be there.
Public notice: Melbourne CBD - Sunday 30 November 2025 to Friday 29 May 2026
Declaration of the Designated Area under section 10D (1) of the Control of Weapons Act 1990
The public place area depicted on the map below has been declared to be a Designated Area under section 10D (1) of the Control of Weapons Act 1990 (the Act).
This declaration will be in place from 12am Sunday 30 November 2025 to 11.59pm Friday 29 May 2026.
Boundary of the Designated Area
The designated area contains all public places within the area bounded by the intersection of:
- Peel Street and Victoria Street
- east to the intersection of Victoria Street and Rathdowne Street
- north to the intersection of Rathdowne Street and Carlton Street
- east to the intersection of Carlton Street and Nicholson Street
- south to the intersection of Nicholson Street and Victoria Parade
- east to the intersection of Victoria Parade and Hoddle Street
- south to the intersection of Hoddle Street and Wellington Parade
- south to the intersection of Punt Road and Domain Road
- west to the intersection of Domain Road and St Kilda Road
- north to the intersection of St Kilda Road and Park Street
- southwest to the intersection of Park Street and Clarendon Street
- northwest to the intersection of Clarendon Street and Whiteman Street
- northwest to the intersection of Spencer Street and the Yarra River
- west along the southern side of the Yarra River to Webb Bridge
- north over the Yarra River to the intersection of Navigation Drive and Harbour Esplanade
- north to the intersection of Harbour Esplanade and Dudley Street, and
- northeast to the intersection of Dudley Street and Peel Street
The designated area includes:
- all roadways and footpaths associated with the stated road and road related areas, and
- all railway stations, underpasses and associated public transport hubs within the defined area.
Road has the same meaning as in section 3 of the Road Safety Act 1986.
Victoria Police powers in designated areas
Police officers and protective service officers (PSOs) are empowered to search a person and anything in the possession or control of the person, or a vehicle, for weapons under the Act.
You, your vehicle or things in your possession are in a public place within a designated area.
A police officer or PSO intends to conduct a limited search of you or your vehicle/things:
- You are requested to co-operate with that search.
- You may be requested to remove items of outer clothing such as headwear, scarves, jackets, etc.
- You may be searched using an electronic wand.
- You may be requested to remove items from any bags or pockets.
- You may be given a “pat down” search.
Whilst within the designated area, a police officer may request that you remove any face covering if the police officer reasonably believes the face covering is being worn primarily to:
- conceal your identity, or
- protect from the effects of crowd-controlling substances.
A police officer may also exercise their power under the Act to direct you to leave the designated area if you refuse to remove a face covering.
A police officer may direct you to leave the designated area if they reasonably believe that you intend to engage in conduct that would constitute an affray or violent disorder under s.195H and s.195I of the Crimes Act 1958 respectively.
It is an offence under the Act to obstruct or hinder a police officer or PSO in the exercise of a power to stop and search a person or vehicle or to fail to comply with a direction to leave the designated area.