Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has sparked fury with her belated response to the alleged machete murder of Good Samaritan Aidan Becker in Melbourne.
Ms Allan shared a video on Monday afternoon addressing the death of Mr Becker, who was allegedly stabbed to death while protecting a 14-year-old boy from four older teenagers outside Mernda train station on Friday evening.
Three males aged 16 and 17, who cannot be identified due to their ages, and 18-year-old man Mike Pikos, have all been charged with murder and armed robbery after being arrested near the scene of the alleged attack.
Ms Allan said in the caption to the video: “Violence like this shocks our community. Stronger consequences and early intervention is how we respond. The Violence Reduction Unit has now deployed in Mernda to stop this violence spreading.”
Violence like this shocks our community. Stronger consequences and early intervention is how we respond. The Violence Reduction Unit has now deployed in Mernda to stop this violence spreading. pic.twitter.com/YCsj6LCKpe
— Jacinta Allan (@JacintaAllanMP) March 9, 2026
She said in the clip that the Violence Reduction Unit was in Mernda “from today, working with police and schools, understanding the factors behind this shocking act of violence, working too with the community to prevent retaliation and further escalation”.
But her statements sparked anger on X, where users objected to the jargon-filled response, blamed the state Labor government for its ineffective machete ban and failure to stop gang crime, and called for mass deportations.
“This incident happened on Friday and the Premier has finally got around to posting something. This person is not taking any responsibility for the youth crime crisis her government’s policies have caused. Her words are meaningless tripe,” wrote journalist Tony Tardio.
“Wasn’t your ‘Early intervention’ supposed to stop this from happening two years ago?” asked another.
“Violence reduction unit? Is that like the secret police Stalin used?” a third wrote.
“This is what happens when you say ‘Diversity is Strength’, clearly diversity is chaos and violence. Where are the bins? I thought you said they worked. How much is all this extra policing costing an already broke state?” wrote another angry Victorian.
“The real and only Violence Reduction Unit is a Mass Deportation Unit,” said another.
The alleged murder of Mr Becker, whose family came to Australia from South Africa to escape violent crime, has sparked an outpouring of grief across Australia, and an online fundraiser set up to support his family has raided almost $50,000 at the time of writing.
A friend of Mr Becker’s told Noticer News the 22-year-old was opposed to violent crime and that he “stood against the sort of people” who allegedly killed him.
The friend, named Levi, said Mr Becker was of South African and German descent, had embraced Australian culture and values since moving to the country when he was young, and simply “loved Australia”.
“He was a real good dude,” Levi said.
Mr Becker was also remembered by his former football club, Yarrambat, which described him as “he kind of teammate every club hopes for – selfless, team first and always willing to put others before himself”.
“Aidan brought people together and represented everything that our club stands for – effort, attitude, respect,” the club wrote.
“His impact reached far beyond the game and the sadness of his loss is being felt deeply across the entire community.”
Another long-time friend, Shania Butler-Griffiths, 23, said Mr Becker was “anti-violence”, thought the government was too soft on offenders, and was planning to start self defence and jiu-jitsu classes.
“It’s no surprise to me that he died trying to make peace and protect a younger kid,” she said.
“Aidan was just a good kid and was always the peacemaker whenever he’d come across his friends or even strangers arguing.”
“He loved Australia and hated what has been going on in Melbourne recently”.
Victoria Police detective acting inspector Nigel L’Estrange told 9News on Saturday Mr Becker was killed trying to save the 14-year-old’s life.
“He’s intervened, he’s tried to protect this 14-year-old schoolboy, he hasn’t been aggressive at all and tried to remove him from the scene and as a result of his interaction he has now lost his life,” he said.
“Those offenders followed, and in what could only be described as a savage [alleged] attack, assaulted the 22-year-old male .. with both fists, kicking and edged weapons.
“It’s cowardly, it’s shocking. It’s not something we want to see in our streets.”
Header image: Left, Aidan Becker (supplied). Right, Jacinta Allan (X).
The post Victorian Premier slammed for ‘Violence Reduction Unit’ response to killing of Good Samaritan first appeared on The Noticer.
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