Machete Ban Amnesty Program — Disposal Bin Network

Description

$13 million machete ban amnesty program (Sept–Nov 2025). ~45-50 heavy-duty steel disposal bins installed at police stations across Victoria. G4S Custodial Services contracted for $925,000 (manufacturing, installation, collection, destruction). ~$825,000 allocated to public awareness campaign. ~$125,000 for market research. Result: ~1,300 machetes collected during 3-month amnesty period. Effective cost per machete collected: ~$10,000. Actual bin manufacturing cost estimated at ~$2,400 each (~$108K–$120K total for 45-50 bins).

Machete Bin Procurement & Value-for-Money

Investigation into the $13M machete ban amnesty program (confirmed single-year 2025-26 allocation). G4S Custodial Services ($3.2B+ Victorian contractor) awarded $925K without disclosed competitive process. Government REFUSED to provide itemised breakdown to AAP. Two unanimous Legislative Council motions demanding transparency. ~$11M unaccounted.

Key Findings

[2025]$13M total budget for machete ban amnesty — only ~1,300 machetes collected (effective cost ~$10,000 each)

[2025]G4S Custodial Services (ABN 37 050 069 255) awarded $925,000 contract for ~45-50 disposal bins. Estimated manufacturing cost ~$2,400/bin (~$108K-$120K total). Procurement process not publicly disclosed.

[2025]Bins fabricated at Mount Gambier Prison (SA, also G4S-operated) using prison metal fabrication capability, then trucked to G4S prisoner transport facility in Laverton (VIC). Prison labour used for government contract manufacturing.

[2025]~$825,000 allocated to public awareness campaign. ~$125,000 for market research (contract PAB024/25-26). Known expenditure: ~$1.875M. Remaining ~$11.1M allocation unclear from public sources.

[1997–2025]G4S holds $3.2B+ in Victorian Government contracts: Port Phillip Prison ($3.11B nominal), prisoner transport ($95.7M), electronic monitoring, court security, youth justice. Victoria's largest justice-sector contractor.

[2000–2024]G4S track record: VAGO found full performance payment received only ONCE in 7 years (Port Phillip). Coroner found G4S contributed to 4 suicides (exposed hanging points in 1,070/1,200 cells). Joshua Kerr (First Nations) died preventably 2021. Reza Barati killed at Manus Island 2014. Mr Ward heatstroke death 2008.

[2025]David Limbrick MLC motion (PASSED, 3 Dec 2025) requiring government to table market research report for contract PAB024/25-26 by 26 Jan 2026. Limbrick called out 'needless secrecy'. Trung Luu MLC demanded full invoices for fabrication, transport, and installation.

[2025]Port Phillip Prison contract terminated early Dec 2025. G4S losing its largest Victorian contract ($3.11B) at the same time it was awarded the machete bin contract — possible relationship-maintenance award.

[2025]CONFIRMED: $13M is a SINGLE-YEAR allocation (2025-26 budget) buried within the $759.2M 'Community Safety Package'. No separate line item in BP3 output initiatives table. No forward estimates language.

[2025]PAEC FINDING 31: 'A significant proportion of the $13M will go towards a public education campaign.' DJCS Deputy Secretary Bill Kyriakopoulos told PAEC it would be a 'fair chunk' and 'in the millions' but was UNABLE TO GIVE AN EXACT FIGURE. (PAEC Report Oct 2025)

[2025]PAEC hearing (5 Jun 2025): Minister Carbines confirmed government has NO ESTIMATE and NO TARGET for machetes to be surrendered. $13M allocated with zero measurable outcome benchmark. (Transcript of evidence, p.3)

[2021–2025]G4S makes ZERO political donations in Australia (confirmed nil on AEC, Democracy for Sale, Centre for Public Integrity, NSW/QLD registers). Instead maintains bipartisan lobbying network: DPG Advisory (Liberal — former Howard/Costello adviser David Gazard), Michelson Alexander (Labor — former Shorten adviser Steve Michelson), Clifton Stakeholder (former Matthew Guy adviser Scott Pearce).

[2025]DJCS Questionnaire (Q7, 4 Aug 2025): machete program NOT LISTED as a named new initiative despite $13M allocation. Carbines QoN: listed crime prevention programs (Crime Stoppers, CCTV, YCPP) but DID NOT MENTION machete ban. Program hidden in bulk package.

[2025]Two UNANIMOUS Legislative Council motions passed demanding machete program transparency. 10 Sep: table all invoices within 30 days. 3 Dec: table market research report by 26 Jan 2026. Government did not oppose either motion.

[2025]PAEC hearing (5 Jun 2025): Minister Carbines appeared. DJCS officials stated they had NO TARGET for machete surrenders — $13M allocated with no measurable outcome benchmark.

[2025]Government REFUSED to provide itemised breakdown of $13M to AAP FactCheck, PAEC, or Legislative Council. Limbrick identified only ~$2M in accounted spending in Dec 2025 debate. Two unanimous motions ignored.

[2025]BP3 Table 1.18: Community Crime Prevention output is only $15.7M total for 2025-26 (down from $26.1M revised 2024-25). $13M machete program would be 83%% of this entire output — yet no separate line item.

[2015–2025]Port Phillip Prison contract extension ($3.11B) was SOLE-SOURCE — negotiated directly with G4S, not competitively tendered (DTF Project Summary, Jun 2016). G4S held site lease to 2046. Establishes precedent for non-competitive awards to G4S.

Audit Questions

Was there a competitive tender for the G4S contract, or was it a direct award to an existing supplier?

Where did the remaining ~$11M go? Is the $13M a single-year allocation or multi-year forward estimates?

What was the evidence base for the $13M budget? Was a cost-benefit analysis conducted before program approval?

Did G4S, Allied Universal, or related entities donate to any Australian political party? Check AEC register.

Who approved the G4S contract — ministerial decision or departmental procurement? What was Carbines' role?

Why were bins manufactured using prison labour at Mount Gambier instead of Victorian steel fabricators? Was Local Jobs First framework applied?

Was the Limbrick motion complied with? Was the market research report (PAB024/25-26) tabled by 26 Jan 2026?

What is the VicPol operational allocation from the $13M? How much went to Consumer Affairs for 573+ inspections?

Was the machete bin contract a consolation award to G4S as their $3.11B Port Phillip Prison contract was being terminated?

Why was the $13M machete program NOT listed as a named initiative in the DJCS Budget Estimates Questionnaire (Q7), and omitted from Carbines' QoN on crime programs?

The Community Crime Prevention output is $15.7M total. If $13M is machete program, what is the remaining $2.7M funding Crime Stoppers, Neighbourhood Watch, and all other community crime prevention activities?

Data Sources

Source	Priority	Notes
Tenders VIC — G4S Contract Search	Primary Source	Search for G4S Custodial Services (ABN 37 050 069 255) contracts with DJCS. G4S prison contracts managed as PPPs through DTF rather than standard tender portal. Machete bin procurement process not publicly disclosed.
Victoria Police — Machete Amnesty Results	Primary Source	Official statistics on machetes collected during amnesty period. ~1,300 reported. ~500 in first week.
DJCS Annual Report 2025-26	Primary Source	Should contain program expenditure breakdown when published. Track for actual vs budgeted spend. Check 'Output: Community Safety' line items.
Budget Paper 3 2025-26 — DJCS Chapter	Primary Source	DJCS chapter, 'new output initiative' table should itemise the $13M. Critical: determine if $13M is single-year or multi-year forward estimates allocation.
Hansard — Limbrick Motion (3 Dec 2025)	Primary Source	David Limbrick MLC motion (PASSED) requiring market research report for contract PAB024/25-26 to be tabled by 26 Jan 2026. Check if report was tabled. Also: Trung Luu MLC demanded full invoices.
PAEC Hearings — DJCS Budget Estimates	Primary Source	Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearings on 2025-26 budget. DJCS ministers questioned on new initiatives. Search transcripts for 'machete'.
VAGO — Private Prisons Report + Audit Plan	Secondary Source	Existing VAGO audit found G4S received full performance payment only ONCE in 7 years at Port Phillip Prison. Monitor VAGO annual plan for machete program VFM audit.
AEC Transparency Register — G4S / Pratt Holdings	Secondary Source	Search for G4S, G4S Australia, Allied Universal, and Pratt Holdings donation history. G4S holds $3.2B+ in Victorian contracts — any donations create a direct donor-to-contract pipeline.
DTF — Port Phillip Prison Contract Extension	Secondary Source	G4S Port Phillip Prison contract ($3.11B nominal). Terminated early Dec 2025. Establishes G4S as Victoria's largest justice-sector contractor — context for awarding the machete bin contract without disclosed tender.
FOI — DJCS Machete Program Expenditure	Secondary Source	Lodge FOI with DJCS under FOI Act 1982 (Vic). Request: 'All documents relating to budget allocation, expenditure breakdown, and contract details for the machete ban amnesty program.' Application fee: $31.80.
G4S Lobbying Firms — Victorian Lobbyist Register	Primary Source	DPG Advisory Solutions (Liberal-connected, engaged Jul 2021). Michelson Alexander / Banksia Strategic Partners (Labor-connected, engaged Jul 2021). Clifton Stakeholder Services (former Vic Opposition adviser). Bipartisan lobbying strategy — no direct donations.
PAEC Community Safety QoN Responses	Primary Source	Questions on Notice responses from PAEC Community Safety hearing (5 Jun 2025). May contain cost breakdown detail not available elsewhere. MUST REVIEW.
PAEC 2025-26 Budget Estimates Report (Oct 2025)	Primary Source	PAEC final report with 42 recommendations. Tabled 28 Oct 2025. May contain findings on machete program spending. MUST REVIEW.

Contractor	Type	Role	Contract Value
G4S Custodial Services	Other	Disposal bin manufacturing, installation, collection & destruction	$0.9m

Metadata

Last updated: 09 Apr 2026 22:52

VALUE-FOR-MONEY ANALYSIS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Total budget: $13M / 1,300 machetes = ~$10,000 per machete G4S bin contract: $925K / ~47 bins = ~$19,700 per bin (installed, collected, destroyed) Estimated raw manufacturing cost: ~$2,400 per bin G4S margin: ~$17,300 per bin (~88%) BUDGET BREAKDOWN (known) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ G4S contract (bins + logistics): $925,000 Public awareness campaign: ~$825,000 Market research (PAB024/25-26): ~$125,000 Known total: ~$1,875,000 Unaccounted: ~$11,125,000 G4S CONTRACTOR PROFILE ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABN: 37 050 069 255 (subsidiary of Allied Universal via G4S plc) Victorian contracts: $3.2B+ (Port Phillip Prison $3.11B, prisoner transport $95.7M, courts, youth justice, e-monitoring) Bins fabricated at Mount Gambier Prison (SA) using prison labour VAGO: full performance payment only ONCE in 7 years Coroner: contributed to 4 suicides at Port Phillip Port Phillip contract TERMINATED Dec 2025 — same period as machete bin award OFFICIAL FINDINGS (PAEC Oct 2025) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ FINDING 30: $13M for machete disposal scheme (single-year) FINDING 31: 'Significant proportion' goes to advertising • DJCS Deputy Sec Kyriakopoulos: 'a fair chunk' and 'in the millions' — UNABLE to give exact figure • Carbines: NO estimate/target for machetes surrendered • $13M buried in $759.2M 'Community Safety Package' • NOT listed as named initiative in DJCS Questionnaire • Carbines QoN omitted machete ban from crime programs PARLIAMENTARY SCRUTINY ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ • Limbrick MLC motion #1 PASSED (10 Sep): table invoices • Limbrick MLC motion #2 PASSED (3 Dec): table market research report by 26 Jan 2026 • Trung Luu MLC: demanded full invoices • AAP requested breakdown: GOVERNMENT REFUSED KEY QUESTIONS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ • Was the G4S contract competitively tendered? • Where did the remaining ~$11M go? • Why prison labour instead of Victorian fabricators? • Was this a consolation contract as Port Phillip ended? • Did G4S/Allied Universal donate to any party? • Were either Limbrick motion complied with? • Why was machete ban omitted from DJCS Questionnaire?