A political war of words over Melbourne gang violence and its links to the Australian-African community has fired up with the state's premier critical of comments by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Federal Liberal MP Tim Wilson, who represents the Melbourne electorate of Goldstein, is the latest coalition politician to announce some people in his community are afraid to go out for dinner in the city because of crime.
He said people see a rise in gangs, particularly from the Sudanese community, and want answers.
"The only way we can practically identify and address a problem is to name it, to deal with it honestly and then to work with the communities to tackle a fundamental problem that's occurring," he told Sky News on Monday.
The Sudanese community is responsible for one per cent of crime in Victoria, which he admits is not a big number, but he believes it's to blame for a growth in certain types of violent crimes.
During a visit to Melbourne last week Mr Turnbull said "there is a gang issue here and you are not going to make it go away by pretending it doesn't exist".
Premier Daniel Andrews on Monday said there was already an acknowledgement of problems, and that's why there was a gang squad.
"I don't know what the prime minister is (doing), seriously, I don't know what motivated those comments, they're not very well informed, that's what you say when you spend a lot of time in Sydney," Mr Andrews told ABC radio.
Victorian Police Commander Stuart Bateson called for calm in the debate, with a sensible dialogue.
"When we start to make an issue that is bigger than what it is, and when we start to racialise and we start to target this specific community, that leads to some unintended consequences," he told 3AW.
"That means a whole community feels vilified. They often feel frightened to go out in public in groups, they're shouted out."
The weekend death of 19-year-old Laa Chol from Melbourne's African-Australian community at a party in Melbourne has inflamed debate, despite there being no indication of gang involvement.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the woman's death was indicative of a "major law and order problem" with Victoria's Labor government.
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