Shop workers to lobby the state government to introduce new trespassing legislation allowing them to ban customers for up to 12 months

Aggressive customers would be banned from shops for up to a year under a push from the peak retailers union to protect workers.

Shop workers are lobbying the state government to pass new trespassing laws allowing aggressive and abusive customers to be banned from stores for up to a year, as shoplifting and violent crimes against workers rise.

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association is calling for new legislation which would allow employees to ban customers from entering a store for 12 months and issue verbal trespass notices if the customer fails to comply with the notice.

SDA SA branch secretary Josh Peak this week wrote to Premier Peter Malinauskas calling for a state government round table with SA Police, SafeWork SA and major retail unions to address the spike in crime.

“Shop theft is up, abuse by customers is up and something must be done,” he wrote.

“For our supermarket, retail, bottle shop and petrol station workers, these aren’t just statistics, it is their lived experiences.

“They are the ones who must face up to these threats daily.

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association SA branch secretary Josh Peak has called on the state government to do more to protect retail workers amid rising shop crime across South Australia. Picture: Kelly Barnes

“By working together and collaborating, we believe we can build a collective agenda to tackle retail crime.”

Mr Peak has also called for a joint SA Police, SafeWork SA and retail industry task force to address rising crime.

“It’s not good enough that retail workers are continuing to be abused and assaulted on the job,” Mr Peak said.

“Retail workers deserve a safe workplace.

“Collaborative action is needed across the retail sector and with government.”

Under current laws, customers can only be banned from a store for 24 hours and employees have no power to issue trespassing notices.

South Australian Independent Retailers chief executive Colin Shearing said shoplifting had become an organised crime “epidemic”. Picture: Matt Loxton

The Northern Territory in May introduced tougher trespassing laws allowing employees, business owners, tenants and security guards to issue 12-month bans.

People who breach a notice face a maximum fine of $3240.

The union’s calls for reform come after the Sunday Mail last week revealed shoplifting had skyrocketed in the past 18 months, with more than 22,000 reports made to police since March 2022.

South Australian Independent Retailers chief executive Colin Shearing said shoplifting had become an organised crime “epidemic”.

“They’re becoming quite professionalised in their approach to organising the crime,” Mr Shearing said.

Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the state government would consider the retail sector’s suggestions. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Naomi Jellicoe

“There’s total organised crime out there.

“They are quite sophisticated in what they do.”

It was also revealed 88 per cent of South Australian retail workers reported being verbally assaulted or abused in the past 12 months, with 60 per cent reporting the abuse occurred monthly.

Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the government would consider the retail sector’s suggestions.

“Everyone has the right to be safe at work,” Mr Maher said.

“Abusive behaviour towards retail workers is completely unacceptable.”

‘SOMETIMES I WON’T FEEL SAFE AT WORK’

Jacob Penny has worked in retail since he was a teenager but escalating violence and increasing assaults on shop workers has left him ready to leave the profession.

“I came very, very close to just leaving retail altogether,” Mr Penny, who works at a northern suburbs bottle shop, said.

“Without even having another job lined up.”

Mr Penny, 23, who has worked in retail for about seven years, said retail crime was the worst he had seen since joining the sector as a 16-year-old.

“During the rough weeks, I won’t want to go into work and sometimes I won’t feel safe at work,” Mr Penny said.

“It has been putting a lot more stress on myself and the other workers.”

Mr Penny said he would support the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association’s calls for new trespassing legislation giving workers the power to ban customers from a store for up to 12 months.

Northern suburbs bottle shop worker Jacob Penny said new trespassing laws would help staff tackle repeat offenders. Picture: Ben Clark

“It would help us tackle repeat offenders especially who are known problem causers in stores,” Mr Penny said.

“It’s important for us to be able to make those calls because otherwise it kind of gets bogged down in going through to our supervisor then management.”

“Giving workers those direct power to make those calls will make sure that it’s able be enforced a lot more effectively.”

Mr Penny said customers had physically and verbally assaulted him in the store while he was working alone.

During one robbery, Mr Penny was cornered in a store room and his life was threatened.

He said he considered quitting his job without a safety net to fall back on because he was left so shaken.

“We’ve noticed a lot of youth crime especially where offenders know they’re not going to be penalised harshly so they just basically go on rampages and do as much as they like with reckless abandon.”