SA leading the nation on retail safety

South Australia will lead the way for the rest of the nation to work toward national consistency on Workplace Protection Order schemes.

As part of the Standing Council of Attorneys-General (SCAG) meeting of the Commonwealth and all states and territories yesterday, it was agreed South Australia would lead a working group on information-sharing, potential reforms and opportunities to improve responses to retail violence.

Retail worker safety was a key discussion of the meeting and was identified as a priority for all jurisdictions.

South Australia has recently introduced legislation to Parliament that would establish a Workplace Protection Order scheme. The legislation is expected to pass in the next Parliamentary sitting week in a fortnights time.

Under the Workplace Protection Order scheme currently before South Australian Parliament, employers, unions, business owners and industry groups would be able to apply to the Courts to impose an Order against individuals who have engaged in personal violence in relation to a workplace and who may engage in future violent behaviour in relation to that business premises.

Under the Bill, personal violence includes physical violence or abuse; sexual violence or abuse; threatening behaviour; stalking; harassing, intimidating or offensive behaviour; and damage of property that causes reasonable fear to a person at the workplace.

An Order could bar the person from the premises or impose strict conditions on their presence in the workplace for up to 12 months, including preventing them from having contact with certain employees.

Those who breach the terms of a Workplace Protection Order could face penalties of up to two years imprisonment for a non-aggravated breach and five years for an aggravated breach.

The SA legislation was modelled on laws operating in the ACT and have been drafted through close consultation with unions such as the SDA, employers such as Woolworths, and employer representative groups.

The nation-leading Workplace Protection Order legislation builds on the increased penalties for assaulting retail workers that the Malinauskas Labor Government brought in as one of its first acts of coming to Government.

Under the increased penalties that commenced in August 2022, people convicted of basic assault against a retail worker while performing their duties could face up to five years in prison (up from two years), while someone convicted of assault causing harm could be imprisoned for up to seven years (increased from three).

Quotes

Attributable to Kyam Maher

Every worker deserves to be safe at work. There is no place for violence and aggression towards workers – in South Australia or anywhere else.

The laws we have introduced for a Workplace Protection Order scheme are the strongest of their kind in the nation.

South Australia is committed to protecting workers against this unacceptable behaviour and we look forward to working with other jurisdictions to share information and ideas to strengthen the safety of retail workers.

Attributable to Shop, Distributive, and Allied Employees Association (SDA) SA Secretary Josh Peak

SA’s WPO laws are the most comprehensive and strongest in the country. The SDA wants to see our laws become the model for every other state and territory.

This includes the adoption of our expanded coverage of the laws through a greater number of people who can apply for WPOs.

This will send a clear message to customers no matter where they are: abusing retail workers will not be tolerated.

This is a crucial measure to ensure the safety of hard-working Australian retail workers.

South Australia is leading the way in keeping workers safe and we’re very eager to see other jurisdictions follow in our steps.