Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett has taken a swipe at Peter Dutton for his interventions in the state's street gang debate, accusing the federal Home Affairs Minister of dividing communities with a "cheap political shot".

Mr Kennett, the Liberal premier of Victoria for most of the 1990s, said he was disappointed by Mr Dutton's claim earlier this month that the threat of street violence in Melbourne suburbs had left people afraid to go out to restaurants at night.

The outspoken Mr Kennett said the Queenslander's comment was "not right and that's just a cheap political shot".

"And you know Peter Dutton was a policeman. If he was a policeman, he would not be making those comments. So he's gone from being a policeman with that training and that discipline to being a politician, which is just to take a cheap political potshot at whatever you can, so it's not helpful," Mr Kennett told Sky News on Thursday night.