Sydney stabbings may force NSW Premier to take a tougher stance on knife laws

A tougher stance on knife laws in New South Wales could be under way as Sydney reels from three violent stabbing incidents in as many days.

Premier Chris Minns said he is open to strengthening the state’s knife laws and noted the violence had left the state’s capital in a “combustible situation”.

A stabbing attack at a western Sydney church that hospitalised two clergymen on Monday is being treated as a terrorist act, with the teenager allegedly responsible having a history of knife-related crime.

In a separate incident, six people were killed after 40-year-old Joel Cauchi embarked on a stabbing rampage at a Sydney shopping centre on Saturday.

Cauchi was shot dead by a police inspector after killing Dawn Singleton, 25, Jade Young, 47, Pikria Darchia, 55, Yixuan Cheng, 27, and 30-year-old Faraz Tahir, while Ashlee Good, 38, later died in hospital.

Both perpetrators had a history of inappropriate possession of knives, with the teenager on a good behaviour bond over a knife crime just three months ago.

Another fatal stabbing attack near a school in Doonside in Sydney’s west on Friday left an 18-year-old dead and a 19-year-old wounded.

A 16-year-old boy has since been charged with murder.

“It’s a combustible situation and I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Minns told Sydney radio 2GB on Tuesday.

“We increased knife laws about six months ago, after the terrible death of Steven Tougher, the NSW paramedic, but I’m not prepared to rule anything out right now.

“Obviously, when people are being killed, and you’ve got a situation where a knife is being used, then it would be irresponsible not to look at it.”

The NSW government recently doubled the maximum penalties for possessing or wielding a knife in a public place.

Under legislation introduced to parliament in June 2023, the Crimes Act was amended to include the offences of having a knife in a public place or school and wielding a knife in a public place or school.

The maximum jail term for those offences increased from two to four years while the maximum fine for possessing a knife increased from $2200 to $4400, and for wielding a knife to $11,000.