Screenshot of the trailer for ‘Constance on the Edge – What does it take to belong’, a documentary about one refugee family from South Sudan as they create a home in Australia. Click the image to watch. The first week of the new year in Australia has been dominated by the issue of so-called African gangs. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a Sydneysider (as residents of the city of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, are called), kicked off a furore when he accused the government of Victoria state government of not addressing gang violence by African youths in the state's capital, Melbourne. He was supported by the Immigration and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, from the state of Queensland, who claimed that Melburnians are scared to go to restaurants because of rising street crimes. Both Turnbull and Dutton are members of the Liberal Party, while the Victoria state government is run by the Labor Party. The statements come ten months before elections in Victoria and at a time of rising nationalism across the country. Allegations of fear-mongering and racism soon followed their remarks. Others, however, thought the prime minister was simply speaking plainly about an actual problem of crime. The issue had first arisen in 2016 over the controversial Apex gang, which police declared a “non-entity” by April 2017. Later in the year, a string of recent crimes, from vandalism and assault, jumped into the national spotlight. The incidents were blamed on groups of African youths. This perceived wave of “gang” violence fits with some people's perceptions: Unbelievable how many people on here are trying to say that African youth gangs aren't a problem in Melbourne. My mother in law lives in the western suburbs and believe me, they're a huge problem. — Jon (@Melbourne_Red) January 3, 2018 However, many disputed whether there are gangs as such. Pieces of the Puzzled @chris8875 claims to be from one of the hot spot suburbs: Tarneit? I live, we live, in Tarneit. African “gangs”? Absolute hokum. Small numbers of bad eggs … Yes, but what group doesn't have that? — Pieces of the Puzzled (@chris8875) January 3, 2018 The Victoria-based Police Accountability Project was one of those who questioned if a spate of street crime among African young people was truly happening, arguing that “coverage of ethnicity is selective”: […] for crimes involving caucasian people, the suspect’s ethnic background is not relevant to mention, but for the same crimes involving people of African background, we hear conjecture and discussion about the backgrounds, culture, community, and the ethnicity of those involved. It also cited data that challenged the notion of an African youth crime crisis: […] Victoria does not have a youth crime wave – ethnic or not. […] Youth crime rates in Victoria have been slowly declining for more than a decade. Crime Statistics Agency research has shown that most youth crimes are by a small proportion of repeat offenders. Despite this, there’s been a jump in aggravated burglaries and some violent crime types that has got everyone’s attention. […] Evidence showed that migrant youth and newly arrived migrants are not involved in criminal activity with less than 10 per cent being overseas born offenders. The second-highest country, after Australia, of alleged offenders in Victoria is New Zealand (2.8 per cent of the total offenders), followed by Indian (1.5 per cent), Vietnamese and Sudanese (both 1.4 per cent). Victorian Crime Statistics Agency clearly show that the vast majority of offenders in Victoria are Australian born and older than 25. The Victorian government and police appeared to falter in their handling of the issue, at first denying the existence of gangs then explaining how they were dealing with them. In a press conference, Acting Chief Commissioner Shane Patton contradicted what his deputy had asserted days earlier and said the “young thugs” in question weren't organised, but are “behaving like street gangs, so let's call them that — that's what they are”: We have for a significant period of time said that there is an issue with overrepresentation by African youth in serious and violent offending as well as public disorder issues. Footballer and community activist Nelly Yoa has been very public in arguing that “enough is enough”. In the interview below, he told SkyNews: There is a gang. We have a problem. Let’s solve it. […] As Melburnians, we are sick and tired of having to live in fear for the last two years. Nelly came to Australia as a refugee from South Sudan in 2003. Much of the debate has centred on youths of South Sudanese background.