Anthony Carbines — Findings & Analysis

Anthony Carbines — The $10,000 Machete Man

Executive Summary

Anthony Carbines has been the Member for Ivanhoe since 2010 and Victoria's Minister for Police, Crime Prevention and Racing since June 2022. A former journalist and Labor staffer, Carbines has risen through the ranks of Victorian Labor without controversy — until the machete bin amnesty program exposed a pattern of wasteful spending, secrecy, and questionable procurement that defines the Andrews/Allan government's approach to public money.

The Machete Bin Debacle

$13 Million, ~1,300 Machetes, $10,000 Each

In 2025, Carbines co-announced (with Premier Allan) a machete ban and amnesty program. The numbers tell the story:

Ten thousand dollars per machete surrendered. This is not cost-effective crime prevention — it is a headline-driven policy response designed to look tough while wasting public money.

The G4S Question

The machete bin contract was awarded to G4S Custodial Services — a company already holding $3.2 billion+ in Victorian government contracts including:

G4S's track record at Port Phillip Prison was damning — VAGO found G4S received full performance payment only once in seven years. The Coroner found G4S contributed to four suicides via exposed hanging points (1,070 of 1,200 cells). Joshua Kerr, a First Nations man, died preventably in 2021.

Yet G4S received the machete bin contract without a disclosed competitive procurement process. The bins were fabricated at Mount Gambier Prison (also G4S-operated in South Australia) and trucked to G4S's Laverton facility.

The Secrecy

The government refused to provide an itemised cost breakdown for the program. When pressed in Parliament:

Limbrick called out "needless secrecy." The parliamentary motion passing is significant — it means the government could not even muster enough votes to block basic transparency on a $13M program.

Contradicting the Premier

In February 2025, Carbines publicly contradicted Premier Allan on bail law review one day after Allan's announcement. This is not a minor gaffe — it suggests either poor coordination within cabinet or a minister freelancing on a sensitive policy area (his own portfolio).

The Shotgun Ban

In August 2024, Carbines announced a ban on bolt-action shotguns. He told media the ban was because bolt-action shotguns were prone to "opportunistic misuse." His office later stated that shooting organisations were consulted — but the organisations themselves disputed this, saying they were consulted about a different ban entirely.

The Career Path

Carbines' career is a Labor machine trajectory:

1. Journalist — RMIT, then Geelong Advertiser (5 years)

2. Chief of Staff — to Minister Bronwyn Pike (Education)

3. Local councillor — City of Banyule

4. State MP — Ivanhoe (elected 2010)

5. Pre-selection drama — rejected in 2009, overturned by Premier Brumby

6. Ministerial roles — Disability/Ageing/Carers, Child Protection, then Police

The pre-selection override by Premier Brumby is telling — it shows factional muscle was needed to get Carbines into Parliament. This is not someone who won preselection on grassroots support; this is someone installed by the party leadership.

Crime Under His Watch

As Police Minister since June 2022, Carbines presides over Victoria Police during a period of:

The policy responses have been reactive (banning specific weapons after media coverage) rather than strategic. The machete bin program is the perfect example — a visible, expensive, ineffective response to a real problem.

What This Means

Anthony Carbines is not the architect of Victoria's problems. He is a mid-tier minister in a government that has systematically prioritised announcements over outcomes, secrecy over transparency, and connected contractors over competitive procurement.

The machete bin program — $10,000 per machete, G4S contract without disclosed process, $11M unaccounted, parliamentary motions needed to extract basic information — is a microcosm of everything wrong with how this government spends public money.

Sources

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Private Sector Employability Assessment

Survival Rating: 3/10 — The Journalist Who Forgot How to Ask Questions

Anthony Carbines studied journalism at RMIT and spent five years at the Geelong Advertiser. Then he became a political staffer, then a councillor, then an MP, then a minister. Somewhere between the Advertiser and Spring Street, he forgot the journalist's core skill: asking hard questions and demanding answers.

What Would He Put on the Resume?

Who Would Hire Him?

Media organisations (returning to journalism), government relations firms, or NFPs in the justice/crime prevention space. His journalism background is his strongest asset — if he can remember how to be curious rather than evasive.

The $10,000-per-machete program would haunt any private sector job interview. "Tell me about a time you managed a budget effectively" — "Well, I once spent $13 million collecting 1,300 machetes..." That's not a success story. That's a punchline.

Most Likely Post-Politics Career: Government relations consulting. Or a return to journalism — where he'd finally be on the right side of the questions again.