Dog Swamp lockdown revelation as WA retailers get new powers to ban violent thugs

1 week ago 10

West Australian retail and fast food shop owners will be able to issue restraining order-style barring orders to stop badly behaved shoppers from entering their premises again.

Woolworths has welcomed the introduction of the laws in parliament today, with state operations manager Lisa Rout revealing her staff were being subjected to increasing levels of abuse and violence.

Speaking outside the Dog Swamp Woolworths, Rout said the store had recently been subjected to two confronting incidents – one of which forced the store into lockdown for half an hour.

“Last year alone, we saw just over 680 instances recorded of violence and aggression towards our team. Those instances range from verbal abuse right up to assault and theft with a weapon,” she said.

“Just recently, unfortunately, the store behind us had to enter a lockdown period for 30 minutes because we had an offender who was vandalising our self-checkout area, was intimidating our staff and also intimidating other customers.

“Likewise, I have another team member who is still recovering at home after being punched in the face some week and a half ago.

“While these incidents are significant, they don’t happen everywhere every day, but when they do, they have a really lasting impact.”

The retail barring laws were promised by the state government ahead of the March election, but will not pass parliament before the end of the year, meaning shop owners will have to face the upcoming Christmas season without the tool in their arsenal.

Attorney General Tony Buti said the laws worked like restraining orders, in that shop owners or shopping centre managers could apply to the courts to put a retail barring order in place.

They must provide evidence that someone has caused issues at stores in the past and will likely cause issues in the future, and the magistrate has discretion over how extensive the order will be.

Buti said it could be applied across multiple stores, but would be unlikely to apply across all Woolworths or Coles locations.

He said in country towns where there may only be one grocery store, the offender may have an altered order allowing them to attend the shop for essential services, or they may have to arrange for delivery of their groceries.

“The magistrate will have the discretion to ensure that people who need to access a particular store for essential services, for food ... there will be a variation allowed in the retail barring order to allow them to access essential services like food or maybe attending to a doctor or other essential services,” he said.

Breaches of an order could result in five years prison.

The laws are modelled after similar legislation in the ACT, which Buti said had resulted in a big reduction in retail abuse.

Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said the laws were long overdue, and the Liberals supported them in principle.

“We’ve been calling for these laws all year. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be in time for retail workers for Christmas,” he said.

Buti defended the time its taken to introduce the laws, saying they had to consult to ensure they were right.

Retail workers union organiser Mark Murray was unfazed by the time it had taken to get to this point.

“If you expect anything to happen quickly, it’s obviously your first time dealing with politics,” he said.

Buti reflected on his own time working at Kelmscott Woolworths in his youth, and said abuse of retail workers had ramped up during COVID-19 but had not reduced.

Asked how the government would address the societal issues driving retail violence, Buti said it was a community responsibility.

“Laws on their own do not solve all society’s problems, but this is an important measure, so this provides a protection to retail workers. But of course, we’ve got a long way to go society, to educate each other, to show respect for each other,” he said.

“That is beyond the legal system, that is us as a community having that discussion.”

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