SA government plans Work Protection Orders for retail workers as crime stats keep rising
Retail crime statistics continue to rise but the state government and industry leaders say the move will put new pressure on criminals. See how it would work.
SA News
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A Woolworths team leader who joined the Marion store team a week after a terrifying lockdown of the Westfield centre triggered by armed youth brawlers in the shopping centre has welcomed proposed measures to ban repeat offenders intimidating retail workers.
Customer service manager Bente Rasmussen revealed young staff at the store were emotionally scarred by the events in June as she said potential bans for violent and intimidatory offenders would help them feel safer.
Under the proposal, out for public consultation, offenders in the state’s retail precincts could face bans with business owners to be empowered to prohibit anti-social behaviour under court orders.
A suite of new measures proposed by the state government will strengthen protections for retail workers in the latest action to stamp out violent behaviour.
Ms Rasmussen said, as a leader, it was tough to see staff “tense up” when they recognised a repeat offender enter the store “knowing what’s going to come”.
“It’s quite hard to keep your team focused,” she said.
“We recently had one within our store who had ridden their bicycle through and threatened loss prevention (workers) while they were in the store as well, which caused a lot of upset for our team.
“This has come not that far off the back of the lockdown at Marion. I started ast that store probably a week after that occurred and still the team was very emotional about the situation that has occurred.
“It was still in the moment very emotional for the team and it’s taken a lot for them to get past that so having something in place that’s going to create a sort of deterrent for those sorts of people coming in and causing these situations, I think, will give our team a bit of peace of mind.”
The scheme would operate in a similar manner to intervention orders via applications to the Magistrates Court to ban individuals identified as being violent in the workplace.
The orders would ban them from entering a workplace for a year.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said the proposed new laws would empower businesses to help protect their “most vital asset – their staff”.
“We’ve heard loud and clear from both business and union groups that the issue of harassment, abuse and violence against staff remains a serious issue in South Australia,” he said.
“Giving the Magistrates Court the power to impose orders for up to a year is a way of giving both business and staff more certainly and security in the workplace.”
National Retail Association policy director David Stout said the organisation considered the Work Protection Orders proposal a “vital step” to safeguard workers.
“These Work Protection Orders will give businesses and police more power to act on aggressive individuals quickly and effectively.
“Once a recidivist has been identified, police will be empowered to prohibit these individuals from entering retail precincts where they have caused or threatened harm to retail workers.
“In conjunction with SAPOL initiative – Operation Measure – we have seen a revolutionary step in addressing retail theft by addressing repeat high value offending.”
Opposition spokesman Jack Batty said legislative change would make little difference unless police were resourced properly.
“Retail crime is still on the rise – and will liekly continue to do so until Labor properly recruits, retains and resources our police,” he said.
The August rolling year figures reveal the number of shop thefts continued to increase with 17,956 offences reported during the period, compared with 16,802 in the previous period.
While the overall figure increased, the increase has slowed considerably over the past six reporting periods as police continue to successfully target recidivist offenders.
Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association SA secretary Josh Peak said the new measures would be “fundamental in ensuring SA retail workers can go to work feeling safe”.
“Retail workers are bearing the brunt of customers who are repeatedly doing the wrong thing,” he said.
“It doesn’t make sense that retailers and their staff can’t ban people who make their premises unsafe.”
The scheme is modelled on laws successfully operation in the ACT, and offenders who breach an order can face up to five years in jail.
It would cover acts of physical violence, sexual violence, threatening behaviour, stalking, harassment and damaging property.
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