Call for more Bourke Street protection after driver charged with murder

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Key points

• Police charged a 26-year-old man with murder after he allegedly drove through the mall and further up Bourke Street into pedestrians and vehicles. 
• The incident triggered memories of the 2017 rampage that killed six people and injured dozens more.
• A planning expert says retractable bollards – which would allow trams and authorities’ vehicles through but block other vehicles – are widely used elsewhere and should be considered in the mall.

A planning expert says more must be done to safeguard Bourke Street Mall, as three people remain in hospital after being struck by a speeding car on Friday night.

Homicide detectives charged a 26-year-old man with murder on Saturday night after he allegedly drove through the mall and further up Bourke Street into pedestrians and vehicles, in an incident that triggered memories of the 2017 rampage that killed six people and injured dozens more.

The crash scene on Friday night.Credit: Ashleigh McMillan

A security review was also conducted in 2021 after a car sped erratically through the mall in January that year, hitting bollards erected following the tragedy four years earlier.

In Friday’s incident, the alleged attacker turned off Elizabeth Street and sped through the mall about 6.30pm, hitting three pedestrians at the intersection of Swanston Street and hitting two cars at the corner of Russell Street. A 76-year-old Brunswick man driving one of those cars died at the scene.

The three pedestrians remained in hospital on Sunday afternoon: a 23-year-old woman from China was in a serious condition, a 26-year-old man from Kew was in a stable condition and a 35-year-old woman from Docklands was also in a stable condition.

Police arrested the driver at the scene and have charged the Melton West man with one count of murder, three counts of attempted murder, three counts of intentionally causing serious injury and two counts of conduct endangering life.

RMIT professor of planning Michael Buxton said Bourke Street Mall appeared to be attracting people intending to harm others, and a solution should be found to stop vehicles entering the busy area. “The unique nature of this area is a clear attractor for this kind of behaviour and that needs to be addressed,” he said.

Buxton said retractable bollards – which would allow trams and authorities’ vehicles through but block other vehicles – were widely used elsewhere and should be considered.

“They’re a proven technology. Trams would have the technology to be able to retract the bollards, and they can then be re-erected to prevent this kind of dangerous behaviour,” he said.

Public Transport Users Association spokesperson Daniel Bowen said it was too common to see unauthorised cars accidentally drive into Bourke Street or Swanston Street, and anything that could be done to restrict access should be looked at.

“Usually, it’s nothing malicious,” he said. “It’s people getting confused and driving the wrong way. It’s clear the signage alone is not keeping them out, and it can cause disruptions to trams, it can cause delays to pedestrians and, in this horrible example on Friday night, it’s also a safety issue.”

Bowen said the issue of retractable bollards had been raised before, including in 2021, but experts were divided on whether they were worth installing given some believed they jammed or broke down too easily.

“There are plenty of examples, particularly in Europe, where they’ve got retractable bollards working with buses and emergency vehicles and they’re able to go up and down as needed to,” he said.

The state government and City of Melbourne spent $52.5 million installing steel bollards, reinforced barriers and gates in busy pedestrian areas following the 2017 incident.

Premier Daniel Andrews said on Sunday that his government was ready to do more if a coroner recommended it, but at this stage there was not an “obvious engineering fix”.

“We owe it to the family of that 76-year-old man who lost his life, and those who are injured and were caught up in this. We owe it to all of them to try and learn from this incident,” Andrews said.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said on Saturday that officers knew the accused murderer because he had previously been the subject of a missing person report, and they had also assisted him with a mental health transfer. Police did not suspect the incident was terrorism-related.

Andrews said the government was committed to ensuring “everybody can get the care that they need as early on in the mental health journey as possible”.

Two people from Diggers Rest, aged 30 and 37, who were also injured in the car smash, have been discharged from hospital.

With AAP

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