The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and the National Retail Association (NRA) have joined forces to call for major changes to improve the safety of retail staff and business owners.
This includes stronger laws and deterrents for offenders, improved relationships between the retail sector and police, improved information sharing, increased focus on the human impact of retail crime, and increased adoption of technology.
The push coincides with this week’s 2024 Retail Crime Symposium, which gathered leading experts with a common purpose to tackle retail crime, worker assaults and the infiltration of organised crime into stores and online environments.
ARA CEO Paul Zahra says that retail crime is one of the most pressing issues facing the retail sector today.
“Retail crime has devastating impacts on businesses and their teams. It’s an issue that is multifaceted – with increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks, organised crime rings targeting retail stores, and violent confrontations that are taking an emotional toll on frontline workers,” he says.
“It’s something that keeps our retail leaders up at night as they fear for the safety of their staff.
“Good progress has been made to provide legislative protections for frontline workers, but the coverage is not yet universal across Australia. We need to continue pushing for these laws because this type of aggressive behaviour isn’t tolerated in any other workplace, and shouldn’t have to be tolerated by retail workers.”
The symposium highlighted a number of key areas of concern for the retail sector and opportunities for further collaboration.
“We need a joint approach to address the challenges impacting our sector, including stronger relationships between retailers and police, innovative solutions to capture more data to help track retail crime trends, and the responsible adoption of technology to help deter criminals and hold offenders to account,” says Mr Zahra.
New laws
The ARA and NRA have been advocating for stronger penalties for people who assault front-line workers. In the past 12 months, new laws have been introduced in South Australia, NSW, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, with legislation drafted in Tasmania and announced in Victoria.
NRA Interim CEO and Legal Director Lindsay Carroll says research shows that stricter laws do have a positive impact for retailers and communities, by creating safer working and shopping environments.
“However, police need more resources to effectively act on aggressive individuals, and retailers need to increase their reporting of these incidents to police,” she says.
“We hope that the symposium creates a pathway for action, ensuring that data and reporting mechanisms accurately reflect the heightened rates of aggressive behaviour.
“Our sector has been working with landlords, industry experts, government and unions to support impacted businesses and the excellent work of the police across the country.”