The former mayor of Darebin City Council, Lina Messina, was hiding in a backroom of the Northland Shopping Centre during the now-infamous youth gang machete brawl that made national headlines.
“It was absolutely terrifying. My first thoughts were, ‘Are my daughter and grandchildren here as well?’” she told The Epoch Times.
The former mayor texted her family, worried because they regularly visited the centre.
“And then it was like, ‘OK, what do we do [now]?'” said Messina. “There was nothing. All we could do in the back of the room was hear screams on the outside in the shopping centre.”
The former mayor said customers were told to “turn off your phones or put them on silent. Let’s not make a sound, and let’s just find out what’s going on.”
She said it was a long 45 minute wait before they were told the coast was clear and it was safe.
“That’s too long,“ said Messina. ”Somebody at the shopping centre should’ve said, ‘Hey guys, please stay safe.’”
“They clearly didn’t [have a plan], because there was nothing over the loudspeaker to say, ‘We’ve had a Code Black, everybody remain calm, the police are on their way, and this is what we’re doing.’”
The former mayor says there was a need for better risk management across the council area to deal with criminal incidents like this.
Seven young males were eventually arrested, all gang members known to police. Further, the brawl was also planned.
Questions to Council On ‘Emergency Plans’ to Deal with Gang Violence
Messina says the Darebin City Council, which she previously led, could look into setting up emergency management plans against future gang violence, a symptom of Melbourne’s ongoing youth crime problems.“We were stuck in a room, and the conversations we had were about: ‘What are we going to do as citizens? Who comes to the door? Who are we going to let in?’” Messina said.
It’s a question she put to her former colleagues during a council meeting on May 28 evening.
“Given the escalating violence and public safety concerns, when is Council going to address the push for mandatory emergency management plans to implement in civic spaces and high-traffic areas such as shopping centres? And what action will Council take, given what happened [on Sunday], which I was in the middle of?”
Darebin City Council took the question on notice, but Messina believes this was not needed.
“I sent it at 10 or 11 o’clock, and they had up until six o’clock [on Monday evening] to provide an answer,” Messina said. Messina was also a former Audit and Risk Committee member for the council.
The Epoch Times also asked Darebin City Council if it would lobby the Allan government for stricter bail laws and a fast-tracking of its machete ban—a move the state government later announced.
The council responded with the following:
“We recognise that [Sunday’s] attack at Northland would be deeply concerning for our community, as it is for Council.
“The attack is a current matter for the police. [On Monday morning] the premier announced she will use powers under Commonwealth law to introduce an interim ban on the sale of machetes.
If Police Knew the Offenders, Why Were They Free? Messina Asks
Meanwhile, Messina said Victoria Police has actually been in contact with the brawlers the day before the incident.“It’s all over social media saying the gang was spoken to by the police the day before they had the gang fight,” she said.
“So the police were aware of it. If the police were aware of it, did they speak to Northland [staff], and did Northland put in measures?
“So my question is where is the risk [assessment]? People are frustrated that they [local and state authorities] are not taking a firmer stance.”
Superintendent Kelly Lawson said Victoria Police was doing all it could to prevent gang violence across the state.
“Unfortunately, we know that we have about 40 youth gangs across Victoria. We are working as hard as we can through Operation Alliance to curb that behaviour,” she told reporters after the incident.
“We’re doing disruption activities when we can. We’re doing all that we can to infiltrate into those gangs.
“We just need to keep our focus on those gangs, and do all that we can to stop that behaviour.”
CCTV indicates the affray lasted for about two minutes, with about 40 local police and specialist units–including the Public Order Response Team and Critical Incident Response Team–arriving on the scene within minutes.
