Veteran retailer Rod Orrock has called for a disaster relief clause in the national leasing code, saying retailers and landlords needed to share the pain of lockdowns and other disasters.

The Australian Retailers Association, the National Retail Association and the SDA, the union for retail and warehouse workers, have jointly called for the return of JobKeeper, mandated rent relief for businesses during lockdowns and the reintroduction of temporary changes to insolvency laws.