"Let me make this point - I'm an outsider to Melbourne but we have the highest proportion of Sudanese population in NSW. We don't have these problems in NSW, they are not happening in other cities. Why is it happening in Melbourne?" he told radio station 3AW. "Law and order means something in NSW and I feel for Victorians who are asking the big question, why is this happening in our city and not other places?" "There is a law and order problem clearly in Victoria." His comments come more than a month after former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull made headlines when he declared that there is a "real concern about Sudanese gangs" in Melbourne. The aftermath of the brawl.

Mr Morrison said his father was a policeman in NSW where "we have a police force that's a force". "It's up to the Premier of Victoria just like the Premier of NSW to ensure there is a police force that is a force ... ''There are things the state governments are responsible for and they are responsible for community policing," he said. Asked whether there was a racial element to the crime problem, Mr Morrison repeated the law and order issue was unique to Victoria. "There is a high proportion of Sudanese in NSW too but we don't have a problem, so this is a law and order problem. When you don't have that control and the rule of law being imposed on your community then people will take advantage of it. Those pressures are always there in any community but have to be restrained by a police force."

Blood on a car at the scene of the brawl. Credit:AAP The man injured in the car crash remains at The Alfred hospital in a critical but stable condition on Monday morning. A Victoria Police spokeswoman said an 18-year-old Cranbourne man was interviewed and released without charge on Sunday after officers carried out a search warrant at his property regarding the violent brawl on Mater Street. Police Minister Lisa Neville on Monday morning defended police against criticism that there weren't many arrests at the scene. "I was a bit concerned to hear some people say Victoria Police had a no arrest policy. That's not the case... depending on how many police are on site, they have to make judgements about what is possible. If you have 200 people and a handful of police it's a very difficult scenario to make large arrests," she told 3AW's Neil Mitchell.

The Police Minister said police had made 700 arrests in the city's west since March, many of those involved in networked youth offending by African-Australian young people. "If I'm a member of the community I'd want to see arrests, as the police minister that what's I'd like to see, but I have to back their judgements and provide them with resources so they have the right judgement," she said. "There's no doubt there is an over-representation of African youth, South Sudanese youth, for their population that are youth offenders." But Ms Neville said a recent street brawl in Queenscliff where six police officers were injured showed a more broad trend towards violent behaviour.

"They are causing harm, but they are not the only ones." Former detective and Victoria's Community Safety Trustee Ron Iddles said there were many questions to be answered by Victoria Police about the response to the Collingwood brawl. "I think first and foremost ... what the intelligence was, the assessment about the intelligence, was there any intelligence something was going to happen," he said on radio station 3AW. "They have to go back and analyse that." He also said he believed there should have been arrests over the Taylors Hill incident several weeks ago, which saw dozens of young people gather in a local park to fight. A police car was smashed after offenders threw rocks at it. Police converged on Taylors Hill in Melbourne's north-west earlier this month. Credit:Nine News

"I think with Taylors Hill, there should have been arrests right, you had over 100 police in attendance," he said. "I think we are getting mixed messages. I just think back then you had 100 police in riot gear, and a young group saying you can't touch us. The fact no one was arrested doesn't send a good message." Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy promised a zero tolerance approach to violent crime, arguing the state’s law and order crisis had been exposed for all of Australia to see. “The law applies to everyone, whether your family has been here 200 years, 40,000 years or two years,” Mr Guy said. He said Victorians were sick to death of excuses from the Andrews government about “youths going insane on our streets, going crazy in pubs”.

He also announced the Coalition would spend $38 million bringing back the crime prevention portfolio, to fund things such as street lighting, neighbourhood watch and more CCTV cameras. The Age believes the man hit by the car was with the teenager accused of fatally stabbing 19-year-old Laa Chol in July on the night of her death. It is not known if the riot was payback for the alleged stabbing. It's also understood police knocked back a request for more resources at a Collingwood record label launch, despite being told a rival group was planning to gatecrash the event, a source says. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video The Age has been told police received information more than a week ago that violence could erupt at party, but force command rejected it so as to not cause undue angst at the event.

Video has emerged of partygoers inside the venue prior to the brawl, which was the launch for 66 Records, an independent music label based in Melbourne. It features hip-hop and rap artists predominantly from the African Australian community.