Peak industry body the National Retail Association (NRA) has welcomed New South Wales Labor’s move to make it an offence to assault retail workers, as the country becomes one step closer to criminalising this behaviour nationwide.
Chief Executive Greg Griffith said the move aligns with the NRA’s position to protect all retail workers from abuse.
“The decision to inflict harsher penalties to address this issue sends a clear message to the community; that this is an issue we take very seriously, and such violent individuals and behaviour will not be tolerated.
“We understand that the majority of customers are in stores to shop and are well behaved, but we need to make it clear to the violent few that they are not welcome.”
Following the implementation of the law in South Australia last year, the NRA has been working with the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) across all states and territories in support of this issue.
“We understand that even though it is still early days of this law operating in South Australia, over 200 violent individuals have been reported to police,” Mr Griffith said.
“This shows the law does have a positive impact for retailers, creating safer working and shopping environments. However, more power needs to be given to police to effectively act on violent individuals.
“We urge retailers to increase the reporting of these incidents to police across the country to better protect our retail workers.”
The National Retail Association is the voice of modern retail, representing more than 60,000 stores across Australia. It has been serving businesses in the retail and fast-food sectors for close to 100 years.
For more information contact the NRA media unit at marketing@nra.net.au