Bills

Criminal Law Consolidation (Aggravated Offence) (Retail Workers) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (12:42): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to the amend the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (12:43): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

In doing so, again I will be very brief, noting that there are many motions that members of the crossbench wish to speak to today. This bill is a very simple bill. What it does is recognise the important role and the harm that frontline retail workers have placed themselves in during the COVID pandemic.

Under the Criminal Law Consolidation Act there are classes of occupations that attract either an aggravated offence penalty or a greater penalty if the offender knew that they were performing those occupations. There are things like emergency workers, police, ambulance and others. There is also a class of people who are prescribed, such as medical workers, medical retrieval teams and public transport workers. They are provided for under section 5AA(1) of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act, where an aggravated offence applies if the offender knew that they were performing that work.

This bill defines retail workers as a class to be added alongside public transport workers, for example. We have all seen, no doubt—some may have experienced it in retail settings—customers' frustrations, particularly during the pandemic, being taken out on retail workers, many of whom are required to work and, in doing so, are keeping South Australians stocked with the things that they need to survive.

Retail workers are frontline workers during this pandemic and, as the union that represents their interests has said, no-one deserves a serve. This bill seeks to recognise the important work they do. It seeks to put them on the same footing as, say, public transport workers—so that offenders might think twice before entering into some of the behaviour that unfortunately we have seen, in particular, during this pandemic—whom we have seen cop a serve in the past.

With that, I commend the bill to this chamber knowing that the member for Dunstan's (Steven Marshall) Liberal government appears too scared to come back to the lower house. We therefore recognise that this bill probably does not have a chance to pass during this sitting of parliament, but it is an important bill to put on the table and to put in people's minds, particularly to indicate and show our support for those who have supported us during the pandemic.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.S. Lee.