The parents of a teenager who died in a knife attack in 2019, which led to the introduction of "wanding" laws in Queensland, are pushing for the same laws to be introduced in New South Wales.
Known informally as "Jack's Law" after 17-year-old stabbing victim Jack Beasley, police can use metal-detecting wands to search people without a warrant in designated areas, including some shopping centres.
Jack's father Brett Beasley told ABC Radio Sydney he spoke to NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley last year about bringing Jack's Law to the state.
"It's a no-brainer, and the New South Wales Police Force and the New South Wales government need to get on board with this," he said.
"I can guarantee you that in the first six months, the police will find hundreds and hundreds of weapons."
NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley has confirmed senior members of the government are discussing knife laws.
On 2GB yesterday, Premier Chris Minns said he would not rule out further legislation.
"I'm not prepared to rule anything out right now," he said.
"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."
Wanding laws 'wouldn't have made a difference' in Bondi or Wakeley attacks
Professorof Criminology Xanthe Mallett from the University of Newcastle said it is unlikely wanding powers or harsher penalties for knife crimes would have made a difference in either the Bondi Junction or Wakeley church attacks.
"None of that would have impacted either crime," she said.
Bondi attacker Joel Cauchi was not in the target demographic to be stopped and searched and was not behaving so erratically that he would have necessarily been noticed by police, she said.
"Certainly no fine or risk of prison sentence would have had any kind of effect in putting him off," she said.
"He was fully intent to go and cause as much harm as he did and when those are the circ*mstances it is incredibly difficult to predict that behaviour and stop it before it happens."
She said unless Australians were willing to have police at every church checking parishioners, the laws would also have been unlikely to stop the Wakeley church attack.
"it wouldn't have made a difference in this one either," she said.
"We have to ask ourselves, do we want security to be at the door of every church in this country?"
The teenage boy arrested over Monday night's stabbing attack in Wakeley had been on a good behaviour bond after previously being convicted of possessing a knife at a Sydney train station.
Professor Mallett said the type of offenders who use a knife as a weapon are typically motivated by anger or rage.
"A knife is what I would describe as an intimate weapon, someone might choose a knife and attack is somebody who is normally highly incentivised," she said.
"It's very different to a gun crime or a poisoning for example, where there is physical distance between the person and the victim."
She said attacks like in Bondi and Wakeley are exceedingly rare in Australia and difficult to prevent from a policing perspective.
"Whilst I understand why people are fearful, I don't see what can be done for those people in those individual circ*mstances," she said.
"Although certainly we can do more with people with mental health issues in the community, you are never going to stop these one-off events where someone makes that decision and acts on it."
Civil liberties groups are also concerned about the unintended consequences giving police greater search powers.
Lydia Shelly from the NSW Council for Civil Liberties said prevention will be achieved instead with better mental health support.
"The research tells us when police have additional powers, especially around search powers, that there's a disproportionate impact on First Nations children and on homeless people," she said.
"There is not a knife crisis in NSW, there's a mental health crisis and that's what we need to be talking about."
NSW knife crime at 20 year low
The rate of violent knife crime in NSW is at a 20 year low according to data from the state's Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
As of December last year, knife crimes were about two thirds below what they were in 2004.
Jackie Fitzgerald from the Crime Statistics Bureau said that while the number of murders per year remains largely the same, population growth indicates that number is also falling.
"For instance in 2004, there were 18 murders involving a knife, whereas last year there were 20," she said.
"But over that time the population in New South Wales has significantly increased, so when you actually look at the rate of knife-related murders, it is in decline over that period."
The data shows the offenders and the victims tend to be adults, and are usually males.
"Of the 20 people killed in NSW with a knife last year, just two were under 18-years-old," Ms Fitzgerald said.
Knife crimes in regional areas of the state are almost double those in the city.
What does the legislation look like around the country?
It is illegal to carry a knife in a public place, without a lawful reason, in every state and Territory in Australia.
While the laws and penalties vary between jurisdictions, legal reasons to possess a knife include for hunting, work or religious reasons.
Wanding laws exist In Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
The Northern Territory modelled its laws on Queensland's, after the alleged murder of 20-year-old Declan Laverty.
Earlier this year, Queensland's then-Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll asked the government to expand police powers to use their "wanding" powers without a warrant, "particularly at shopping centres", where she said young people were regularly found with knives.
Previously the wanding laws only applied in specific nightlife precincts and public transport hubs around the state.
Queensland Police have seized 500 knives since the laws took effect last year.
In Tasmania, where knives are the most common weapon used in crimes, strict laws were introduced in 2016, banning pocketknives and multi-tools without a legitimate reason.
Last year, the NSW Government introduced legislation which doubled the maximum penalty for knife crimes after the stabbing death of paramedicSteven Tougher.
The maximum fine for having a knife in a public place increased to $4,400 while the fine for wielding a knife increased to $11,000.
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