Answers to a social media mystery about the Victorian government’s amnesty bins for machetes, which have been the subject of wild misinformation about their cost, can be traced to private prisons and a $925,000 contract.

In March Premier Jacinta Allan announced a ban on machetes and a three-month amnesty for Victorians to dispose of the weapons in 45 bins outside select police stations, from September 1 to November 30.

The opposition seized on the $13 million program to claim each bin was costing more than $300,000, ignoring that the total cost included a public awareness campaign and cataloguing and destruction of the weapons. That’s despite calling for the machete ban before the government’s announcement and supporting the prohibition of the weapons in parliament.

The government event

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