Welcomed by Cumberland Chamber of Commerce President Immanuel Selvaraj, the laws will see people convicted of assaulting staff, face up to 11 years in prison.
Mr Selvaraj says he has received many complaints, mostly from bank staff, who are fed up with being abused.
“What is exacerbating the issue is that everyone is short-staffed,” he said.
“With bank branches closing, the queues at banks are getting longer with a reduced level of service and customers are getting fed up.
“I welcome these new laws to support retail staff and remind the community that inadequate staffing levels is not the fault of the employee, we are all in the same boat.”
The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Assaults on Retail Workers) Bill 2023 will see three new offences added to the Crimes Act targeting attacks on retail workers.
It is now an offence to assault, throw a missile at, stalk, harass or intimidate a retail worker in the course of the worker’s duty, even if no actual bodily harm is caused to the worker, with a maximum penalty of four years’ imprisonment.
Assaulting a retail worker in the course of the worker’s duty and causing actual bodily harm to the worker, comes with a maximum penalty of six years’ imprisonment.
Wounding or causing grievous bodily harm to a retail worker in the course of the worker’s duty, being reckless as to causing actual bodily harm to the worker or another person, comes with a maximum penalty of 11 years’ imprisonment.
Research from the McKell Institute, commissioned by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, found that a staggering 85 per cent of retail workers report abuse on the job and a lack of adequate deterrent measures has contributed to this problem.
‘Most regular customers nice but some get fed up in queue’
GRANVILLE convenience store staff member Mohammad says that while most regular customers are nice, there are often unfamiliar faces that get fed up easily if they have to queue.
He welcomed the new protections for retail staff after a bill was passed in Parliament last week making it a criminal offence for customers who assault or are abusive to workers.
“We work as hard as we can but if we get a lot of customers at the one time, we can’t serve them all first,” he said.
“There’s certainly been instances where people who are queuing start to get abusive, yelling at us and other customers and sometimes they just walk out.
“However we have been trained to deal with this frustration and have to let them know they need to be respectful.”
A Pharmacy 4 Less Auburn spokesperson said that while customers are generally pleasant, staff have no control if they choose to post a negative google review.
“We had a case where we thought the customer received good service and was provided with the products and advice they needed and then the next day, saw they had criticised one of our pharmacists who had nothing to do with serving them,” she said.
“That’s a form of abuse too that shouldn’t be allowed.”
