Recommendation 36

Violence and abuse towards retail workers is a complex and multi-faceted issue and any meaningful solution will involve a package of measures from Government, the police, employers, retail workers and the public. Legislation can only ever be one part of the picture. However, we believe that the introduction of a new standalone statutory offence would play an instrumental role in resetting expectations among the public, retail workers and the police. It would send a clear, powerful, and long overdue message that abuse and violence towards retail workers will not be tolerated.