Coles to stop selling kitchen knives after Queensland stabbing

Coles is withdrawing kitchen knives from sale in supermarkets across Australia after a Queensland staff member was stabbed in the back.

A 13-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder over the attack in Ipswich, south-west of Brisbane, on Monday afternoon.

Police allege the teenager obtained the knife in the Yamanto store and attacked the 63-year-old worker at random.

A Coles promotion for the kitchen knives that will still be available behind its service desks until next week.

The woman remained in a critical but stable condition since Monday at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital and on Thursday her family confirmed she was out of the intensive care unit.

“At this time, we can confirm that she is out of ICU and off sedation, and we have been able to speak with her,” they said in a statement.

“We would also like to take the opportunity now to publicly acknowledge the support that we have received and thank all those involved who helped to save her life.

“We still have a long journey ahead of us but thankfully Claudia is now on the road to recovery.”

In a statement, Coles said it would withdraw its entire range of kitchen knives from all Australian supermarkets in response to the increased levels of aggression and violence in stores.

“Coles complies with all legislation regarding the sale of kitchen knives, and this withdrawal is being taken out of an abundance of caution as we conduct a review,” the company said.

“The safety of our team members and customers is our number one priority across all aspects of our business.”

Due to an ongoing promotion, Coles will continue to make SMEG knives available for redemption from its service desks until January 21.

Woolworths took similar action in 2021 after a security guard and customer were stabbed at a supermarket in Melbourne’s inner north. After a risk assessment, it reintroduced a smaller range of knives, in tamper-proof packaging, but still withholds them from sale in about 350 supermarkets, including 60 in Queensland.

“Our thoughts are with the Coles team member and their family at this tragic time,” Woolworths said in a statement on Wednesday.

“There is no place for violence like this anywhere in our community, and all retail workers deserve the right to a safe and respectful workplace.”

In September, Queensland imposed new regulations banning the sale of knives to minors as part of a suite of measures intended to reduce knife crime.

Retail staff are required to enforce the ban through the use of in-store signage and age checks.

However, the state government opted against requiring locked display cabinets for kitchen knives, to reduce the regulatory burden on retailers.

NSW banned the sale of knives to children in December, but used 16 as the legal age, in line with several other states. In Victoria, the legal age is 18.

Queensland only requires specific weapons, such as axes, machetes and swords, to be stored in locked cabinets before sale.

When Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton visited Ipswich on Tuesday, he reiterated his intention to introduce uniform knife laws across Australia if the Coalition wins the upcoming election.

The Yamanto stabbing has reignited the debate over Queensland’s law and order policies, with the LNP government’s new “adult crime, adult time” laws failing to include the offence of attempted murder.

Premier David Crisafulli on Wednesday insisted the offence was not overlooked by the government and would be considered by a future expert panel.

“When we went to the election campaign, we identified the first tranche of the Making Queensland Safer laws, and we said they would be law by Christmas. Tick,” Crisafulli said.

“And then we said there would be future tranches of that legislation … many evolutions and more changes are required.”

Queensland Opposition Leader Steven Miles said the laws were rushed because Crisafulli was “running a government on slogans without substance”.

Queensland, under Labor and now the LNP, has also expanded police wanding powers to allow random searches for knives at more sites, including shopping centres.

While wanding has successfully removed knives from public spaces, officers are far more likely to detect drugs. The LNP has vowed to scrap drug diversion programs in a move likely to increase pressure on prisons.

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