The mother of a Tasmanian man who lost his life in a stabbing attack says she can now “breathe a little” after receiving Labor’s support for implementing tougher knife laws in the state.
“I’ve really been chipping away at this for four years,” Laraine Ludwig said on Friday, just days from the five year anniversary of her son Reid’s death.
“The public just deserves to know that there are preventive measures and knives at present are the flavour of the year, not the flavour of the month.”
Ludwig has long been pushing for the implementation of ‘Jack’s Law’, which would allow police officers to use non-invasive scanners to detect people carrying weapons without reasonable suspicion.

She says the law has been successful in Queensland, where it was introduced in early 2023 following the death of 16-year-old Jack Beasley.
Labor leader Dean Winter said there were over 160 recorded knife crime incidents in Tasmania in the last 12 months, an average of almost three each week.

“That number continues to go up and it represents the vast majority of violent crime in Tasmania,” he said.
“And that’s why we’re concerned about it and we want to take serious action to make sure this can’t happen.”
Winter plans to introduce legislation in Reid’s name that would give police the authority to use handheld scanners to detect the unlawful possession of knives in specific public areas.
“It was only last weekend we had another stabbing here in Salamanca and I know the impact that’s had on the hospitality sector here,” he said.

“I think it’s time for Tasmanians to take up the challenge to do the right thing for our workers, for families, to protect not only the workers, but people who go around Tasmania and have the right to be safe.”
Shadow Police Minister Jen Butler accused her Liberal counterpart Felix Ellis of being “soft on knife crime” and claimed he is “not really interested in implementing these laws”.

“We would be focusing on entertainment precincts, on retail areas and those areas with a history of crime or knife use,” she said.
“As an example, the other night I attended the cricket game and I was scanned with a wand as I walked into the cricket game.”
“It was just a normal procedure. That is the kind of power that we would like to give Tasmania Police.”
Minister Ellis said work was already underway to implement such a policy.
“Labor is once again late to the party on legislation that has just finished consultation a few weeks ago,” he said.
“We are backing in our police by introducing legislation for stronger search powers and tougher penalties for knife crime.”