The Australian Retail Council (ARC) believes Victoria’s workplace protection order (WPO) laws will fall short of their objective after passing Parliament this week.
According to the ARC, the new laws don’t offer urgent interim orders for workers facing violence, threats, abuse and intimidation from repeat offenders.
Retail operators, specific passenger train, tram and bus operators, or certain registered employee unions will be able to apply for a WPO, which operates similarly to AVOs, effectively mandating that those who have a WPO against them cannot enter certain premises for a length of time.
Perpetrators who breach a WPO can be subject to two years' imprisonment or a $50,000 fine. However, the current law means those applying for a WPO against a person will need to go through the court system first to get it mandated.
In its current form, ARC CEO Chris Rodwell said Victoria’s framework is the weakest workplace protection order model in the country, despite the state experiencing the worst retail crime compared to other states and territories.
“Retailers have fought for these protections for several years in Victoria because frontline workers face crisis levels of violence, threats and intimidation – the worst in the country,” Rodwell said.
“So, it is deeply disappointing that, after all this time, the legislation does not fully deliver on its promise.”
Rodwell said that Victoria did not need to reinvent the wheel, pointing to similar laws in South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory that allow courts to act quickly when workers face an immediate risk. This means mandating an interim WPO while the court finalises the process.
In the year to March 2026, Crime Statistics Agency data shows Victoria recorded 4,823 assault and related offences at retail locations, while stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour increased by 10.1 per cent. Recent Auror data shows that, on average, there are around 100 violent retail crime events in Victoria every day, more than a third of the national daily total.
According to the ARC, the Victorian Government has argued interim orders are unnecessary because it has made it easier for a court to grant a final order by lowering the threshold of a barring order.
"That misses the point,” Rodwell said. “The real risk is the time it can take for a final court order to be made, during which the offender can return to the workplace, and workers remain exposed.”
Rodwell noted that one retail worker lost his life in an alleged attack in Melbourne just weeks ago. According to media reports, a grocery store owner died days after allegedly being bashed by a group of teenagers.
“There are far too many retail workers and customers being violently attacked and abused,” Rodwell said. “It is critical the Government puts the right protections in place to ensure people can come home safe after a shift.
“Retailers only seek workplace protection orders in the most serious cases involving violent and abusive repeat offenders.
“We urge Premier Ben Carroll and the Government to reconsider this critical gap and ensure the scheme delivers on the objective of its own legislation – protecting workers before another staff member on the shop floor or an innocent customer gets hurt or killed.”
Ahead of the Bill’s passing this week, the Government brought forward the commencement of workplace protection orders from July to March 2027.
Rodwell welcomed this, but added that retail workers are still being asked to wait months for these protections.
“We had strongly hoped workplace protection orders would be operational before the end of this year. Given the scale of violence and abuse retail workers are facing in Victoria, every day counts.”
In the same release by the ARC, Coles executive GM of supermarket operations, Martin Smithson, said he and his team have been strongly advocating to have these protections implemented in Victoria as a priority.
“While it’s pleasing to see the implementation date brought forward to March 2027, there are still some gaps in the legislation,” Smithson said.
"By comparison, the workplace protection legislation was successfully introduced in South Australia in just 6 months, and we have seen threatening situations decline by 16 per cent over the past two years – this is what we want to see in Victoria.”