New laws touted to crack down on retail assaults yet to result in tougher convictions

Laws brought in to crack down on violence at the checkout are yet to result in a single sentence greater than the pre-existing penalty. Of the 567 offenders charged under new retail assault laws, just 52 have been jailed and none were sentenced to more than 12 months. The largest fine handed out was just $3156 including court costs, less than a tenth of the maximum. The legislation, which passed Parliament in July 2024, created a new offence for assaulting retail staff, carrying a tougher penalty of up to seven years in prison or three years and a fine of $36,000. The punishment is significantly higher than the previous penalty of 18 months jail and an $18,000 fine. At the time, the Government vowed it would enable the justice system to protect retail workers and better meet community standards. But IGA and bottleshop owner Ben Heptinstall said he hasn’t felt any safer. Mr Heptinstall says he’s lost count of how many times he’s been assaulted, including being threatened with a syringe, stabbed with keys and hit in the head, requiring stitches. He was also the victim of three armed hold-ups but, he said, only one offender served jail-time. “People just don’t care anymore, they know that the law is soft and it protects them instead of protecting the victims,” he said. “That’s where it lies, it seems that offenders have more rights than what victims do and it’s pretty disgusting really. “Any individual would assume if they pulled out a needle or assaulted someone whilst especially shoplifting or doing something like that, I think any reasonable person would think that you would go to jail for that. “They know that they can get away with it.” Overall, 308 individuals have been convicted under the new laws. Fines were handed out to 80 of those, while 77 were given a community-based order. At the time the overhaul was welcomed by industry groups, but Liquor Stores Association WA chief executive Peter Peck described the situation since then as “Groundhog Day”. “The problem we have is the judiciary do not listen to or understand the term community expectation,” he said. “You will not have a deterrent if people do not think you’re going to use it, they’re never going to. “It’s like an empty threat by my mother when I was a kid which was if you do that again, there’ll be hell to pay, well I did it again and nothing really changed, so it was a worthless threat.” Shadow police minister Adam Hort agreed. “Labor talked tough about protecting retail workers, but the sentencing outcomes show the deterrent they promised is not being applied,” he said. “The Cook Labor Government loves claiming they are delivering the toughest laws, or pretending they are tough on crime, but the evidence is this is simply not true.” Attorney General Tony Buti said the lack of tough punishment was an example of the courts’ independence. “The sentencing outcomes to date reflect the independent role of the courts and the application of established sentencing principles, including proportionality, and the individual circumstances of each matter,” he said. “The Government’s focus has been on sending a clear and unequivocal message that violence against retail workers will not be tolerated, and on ensuring the law properly recognises the unique vulnerability of retail workers in frontline roles. “There is now a dedicated offence available to appropriately punish and deter this conduct.“ Criminal barrister Tom Percy said the laws have not deterred offending. “The suggestion or expectation that increasing penalties alone might decrease the rate of offending in this or any other area of sentencing is delusional and discredited by all modern sentencing studies, as well as by the judiciary,” he said. New retail barring orders to ban violent individuals from shops and shopping centres are due to be debated in Parliament next week.