Australia's largest trauma hospital has seen an "alarming" increase in stabbing injuries over the summer, prompting warnings more public education may be needed.
The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne's inner south-east treated 63 stabbing victims over December, January and February — a 50 per cent increase on the same period last year.
Senior surgeon Joseph Mathew — who is the deputy director of the hospital's health trauma services — said young people made up a significant portion of the stabbing patients.
"It is quite alarming, because the age group that is represented in this is between the ages of 15 and 30," Dr Mathew said.
"So the damage that has been done is quite devastating."
Dr Mathew said that, despite many patients presenting with quite small external puncture wounds, there were "significant" internal injuries.
Spate of violence over Labour Day weekend
In recent days, Melbourne has been shocked by a spate of serious stabbings.
Last weekend, a 16-year-old died after being stabbed during an incident in Melbourne's north, in what police described as a "very, very vicious assault".
The same night, a 23-year-old man died and his 26-year-old brother was hospitalised with serious injuries after a stabbing attack in Docklands.
Victorian investigators arrested five people and charged two of them with murder on Friday and Saturday over the Docklands incident.
The Labour Day long weekend also saw a taxi driver sustain serious injuries and a 15-year-old boy rushed to hospital, both in unrelated stabbing incidents.
Victoria's latest crime statistics, released on Thursday, showed an overall decrease in crime in 2021, compared to 2020.
The overall number of victims of crime decreased to their lowest level since 2010, as did weapons offences.
However, the number of non-family violence assaults rose slightly, by 0.2 per cent.
Police said that rise was due to a number of factors, including disputes between people known to each other and violence at festive celebrations.
Calls for education to prevent violence
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent told reporters on Thursday that police had seen "some gutless cowards, who hunt in packs, essentially, and are armed with knives".
He labelled the long weekend's violence "tragic and disappointing", but reiterated it was "not the norm" for Melbourne.
Deputy Commissioner Nugent suggested some of the knife violence was linked to gang activity.
"They inflict enormous pain and suffering, lifetime pain and suffering for families when a life is taken, or someone is seriously injured like that," he said.
"We are totally committed to disrupting and dismantling gangs in this state."
He pointed to recent crime statistics data that showed throughout 2021, more than 500 gang members were arrested and charged with 5,361 offences.
Police, he said, were focusing on prevention, early intervention and enforcement to break up gangs and prevent crime.
Dr Mathew said that, from what he had observed, many young men were arming themselves with weapons in the mistaken belief it would protect them, creating a "needless" cycle.
He said it appeared many of the fights or attacks were driven by alcohol and/or drug use.
Dr Mathew said there needed to be more education and public awareness aimed at preventing the violence.
"I think the preventive measures is to tell these young people of this age group that the knife does maximum damage to themselves and to others," he said.
"And, sometimes, they just don't have control over their behaviour when they have alcohol and drugs and peer pressure on board.
"So, I think it is important that they just don't carry knives because it ends up badly."
