TURNBULL minister Peter Dutton has been mocked by Victorians online after he said that people in Melbourne were “scared to go out at restaurants” because of African gang violence.

“People don’t see this in NSW, in Queensland, but the reality is people are scared to go out at restaurants of a night time because they’re followed home by these gangs, home invasions, and cars are stolen,” the Home Affairs Minister told Sydney radio 2GB on Wednesday.

Twitter users have ridiculed Mr Dutton by going out to dinner last night and posting pictures of their meals.

Left-wing activist group GetUp! called his comments “fearmongering”, while others tweets made tongue-in-cheek references to “bravely” dining out.

Another brilliant meal at Chez in Prahran, then walked home to St Kilda (yeah the horror huh)...#MelbourneBitesBack pic.twitter.com/CPxWIZpOhN — Anne Day (@Pbearwilltravel) January 3, 2018

At dinner in beautiful Melbourne local pub, full of people who are #notafraidofPeterDutton #MelbourneBitesBack pic.twitter.com/XPmGR7D8cj — 🌈 Lisa (@Lisadownsouth) January 3, 2018

Just out having dinner. All going well until the main arrived and scared the shite out of me. @PeterDutton_MP #auspol #spudhead pic.twitter.com/f4Ka22u9xY — ʀapscaʟʟɪoɴ (@CahillYari) January 3, 2018

Was going to go out to dinner with the family then remembered how terrified we all are. Thanks @PeterDutton_MP for keeping us safe.



I assume the SAS will be delivering our pizza! — lehmo (@lehmo23) January 3, 2018

I had to crawl over a mass of bloodied bodies that were obviously a result of the horrendous gang violence we experience in Melbourne every night but in the end we had a nice casual meal #MelbourneBitesBack — Glenn Finkelde🌈 (@GlennFinkelde) January 3, 2018

Living in an area with a large African community, my only experiences with violence are white blokes drunkenly punching on. Meanwhile the African kids play basketball and soccer in the park. Peter Dutton couldn’t find Melbourne on Google Maps. He should shut up. #auspol — John Weber 🌹🐯 (@JohnVWeber94) January 3, 2018

@PeterDutton_MP Melburnians are far more scared of getting a bad coffee than ‘gangs’. Take your racist dog whistling and get right in the bin #MelbourneBitesBack — Catherine Strong (@hellharpy) January 3, 2018

Mr Dutton’s comments come after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull criticised Victoria’s Labor Premier Daniel Andrews for “growing gang violence and lawlessness”.

Acting premier Tim Pallas, who is also the member for Werribee, said Mr Dutton should apologise for his comments.

“I think the people of Werribee and the people of Wyndham deserve an apology from Mr Dutton. He’s gone too far just to make a political point,” Mr Pallas told Channel 9.

He said the federal government was also to blame for the situation, for reducing allocations to migrant services including employment services.

Victorian Youth Affairs Minister Jenny Mikakos said tackling youth crime and gang violence would take more than the simplistic answers offered up by critics.

“For those people who are running around putting about simplistic answers, all I can say is that is a complete con job,” she told reporters in Melbourne.

“Because one thing alone is not going to fix this issue.”

Ms Mikakos said youth crime was not a new issue, and authorities had been working with police and community organisations to focus on prevention and early intervention for a number of years.

Data from the Crime Statistics Agency shows a decline in the number of young criminals, as well as a decline in the proportion of total crime committed by young people, over the past 10 years.