“How much longer are law abiding shoppers and frontline retail workers in Victoria going to have to wait to get the protection they need from the tsunami of customer violence and abuse?”
says Michael Donovan, Victorian Secretary, the SDA the union for retail, fast food, warehouse and online retail workers.
Victoria has the worst record of customer violence and yet we look like being the last state to act to update our laws to bring repeat offenders to heel.
South Australia has just announced the details of laws to introduce Workplace Protection Orders, which have already proved successful in significantly reducing retail crime in the ACT. Western Australia is drafting legislation as a matter of urgency.
Woolworths says that since it imposed WPOs on 13 “high harm” offenders in the ACT it had seen a 23 percent reduction in total offending across its Canberra stores.
Reliable estimates indicate that 10 percent of repeat offenders are responsible for fully 60 percent of retail crime.
WPOs operate like AVOs, barring repeat offenders from retail premises for up to 12 months.
“They do not place additional pressure on police because they are initiated by retailers,” said Mr Donovan.
“It is win win win; a win for retail workers, a win for shoppers and a win for the police who have less crime to deal with.
It is now 18 months since the Premier publicly promised to upgrade laws against customer violence by criminalising offences and increasing penalties.
“Victoria has a more significant problem with customer violence than any other state, but still no action,” said Mr Donovan
“Why is our government dragging the chain? Why are we still waiting for action? With an election barely 12 months away it makes absolutely no sense.”
Contact: Jim Middleton 0418 627066