The Victorian government has defended the effectiveness of its machete ban after multiple teens were arrested over an alleged machete brawl in the heart of Melbourne.

Shocked commuters ran for cover after a group of youths – some armed with machetes – brawled at Melbourne’s Flinders Street station concourse on Saturday night.

Protective Services Officers converged on the station, boarding a train where four boys were arrested, and machetes were seized.

Another pair was arrested near the precinct.

A 17-year-old boy who was injured during the brawl was taken to hospital with a laceration to his arm.

Police charged a 22-year-old man with affray, reckless cause injury, assault with a weapon and possessing a prohibited weapon, who was bailed to appear Melbourne magistrates court on 27 November.

The remaining five, aged 13, 14, 15 and two 16-year-olds, were released.

The government minister Harriet Shing said changes to bail laws, a machete ban, new post-and-boast laws and the introduction of a violence reduction unit were starting to show in a drop in crime statistics.

“What we are doing is working,” she told reporters on Sunday.

“There’s always more work to do, but we do know that the work that police are doing is having an impact, that the machete ban is having an impact.”

The government said about 18,000 weapons had been surrendered or seized and 17,000 machetes taken off shelves since the 2025 amnesty, but the opposition said knife attacks continued to escalate.

“You’ve got teenagers that are literally putting the finger at the government because they know there’s no consequences,” the opposition spokesperson, David Southwick, said.

“Victorians want [a] response, they want consequences, and it’s clear that the machete policies of the government simply have not worked.”