Published on Tuesday, 25 November 2025

Six months CBD designated area declaration is over-reach

The declaration of Melbourne’s CBD and surrounds as a designated area until the end of May is a vast over-reach by Victoria Police that will infringe on civil liberties and freedoms of people visiting the city.

Inner Melbourne Community Legal says there was no discussion or consultation with the community prior to the unilateral decision by Victoria Police to gazette the CBD, Docklands, Southbank, the sporting precinct, and parts of East Melbourne and South Melbourne as a designated area.

The designated area declaration was announced in the Government Gazette today, to come into effect from midnight on Sunday until 29 May next year.

This will empower police to stop and search anyone who enters the designated area without any suspicion of intention to commit an offence, including ordering people to remove face masks, headwear or other coverings.

People who refuse to allow a search can be removed from the designated area and may be arrested.

It comes at a time when the Victorian Parliament is debating amendments to the Control of Weapons Act to allow pat down and outer body searches on children.

IMCL chief executive officer Nadia Morales said the declaration was unprecedented both in its geographic scope and for the length of time it is intended to apply for.

“This is complete overkill by Victoria Police to designate such a large area for six months,” she said.

“What it means is that a police officer or protective services officer can stop and search anyone, no questions asked, at any time in the CBD and its surrounds.

“People who are stopped randomly by police tell us it is humiliating and makes them feel like they have done something wrong. Removing the need for police to suspect a person has committed a crime takes away civil liberties, the right to privacy and to move freely, from all Victorians who enter the CBD these holidays right up to past Easter.

“The designated area was declared a day after it was revealed by the Centre Against Racial Profiling that people of Aboriginal, Pasifika, African or Middle Eastern appearance or origin are at least five times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than white people.

“We also know that young people and people experiencing poor mental health or homelessness are more likely to be unfairly impacted. 

“The declaration of a designated area in a gazette allows our civil liberties to be removed by stealth and without consultation or need by police to justify their actions to the public. 

“For a city that claims to be the world’s most liveable, it is a sad day indeed.

“If Victoria is not careful, we will wake up one day and find we are living in a police state. As a community we must be vigilant against this overreach of police powers.”