Retail workers at Bunnings and Kmart are being threatened by customers more than 1000 times a month, with many incidents involving weapons.
Parent company Wesfarmers, which also owns Target and Priceline Pharmacy, has revealed the extent of worsening rates of retail crime.
Incidents involving threats of serious harm at Bunnings rose by 66 per cent while threatening incidents at Kmart increased 29 per cent, chief executive Rob Scott said.
The company recorded 13,500 instances of customers threatening workers in retail stores across 12 months, he told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday.
More than 1000 of those instances involved physical assault and several hundred threats of serious harm, often with a weapon.
The company has increased security at high-risk locations, trained workers in de-escalation tactics and deployed body-worn cameras.
Data showed one-in-three retail crimes across Australia took place in Victoria – 60 per cent more than any other state.
Research from the Australian Retailers Association and National Retail Association found 79 per cent of Victorians were concerned about rising crime levels, compared to 66 per cent in other states and territories.
“These are not issues just focused on Wesfarmers. These are broader societal community issues,” Mr Scott said.
The conglomerate shared information with retail peers, governments and police because they played important roles in addressing the growing hazard.
“We support sensible reform, including tougher, nationally consistent penalties for violent retail crime and a national conversation to enable controlled, responsible use of technology to exclude known violent offenders from retail environments,” Mr Scott said.
The ACT has laws that allow judges to impose workplace protection orders that prohibit individuals engaging in violence towards workers from attending particular shops for up to 12 months.
South Australia has introduced similar legislation to its parliament.
The NSW government has launched a police retail crime strategy that allows prosecutors to apply to prevent recidivist and violent offenders from re-entering retail premises with a place restriction order after a conviction.
The Victorian government said laws to crack down on the assault and abuse of retail workers were imminent.
Wesfarmers delivered a record net profit after tax of $2.7 billion excluding significant items, up 3.8 per cent on the previous year, and a revenue of $46 billion.
Despite this, chairman Michael Chaney warned of an exodus of business investment if a Productivity Commission recommendation to add a five per cent cash flow tax on big businesses was accepted.
Mr Chaney said $43 billion (93 per cent) of Wesfarmers’ revenue went to other parties such as suppliers, team members, governments and the community.
“This breakdown of our financial performance highlights the importance of large companies in our economy, and that’s a fact that is not well enough recognised,” he said.
A cash flow tax would make Australia’s tax regime “one of the most onerous in the world” and drive investment offshore, Mr Chaney said.
He warned this would threaten Australia’s productivity performance and said corporate and income tax levels were too high.
“Our political leaders seem unwilling to address this. It’s time to think about the long-term needs of Australia and stop worrying about near-term political risks,” he said.
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