Worker Safety in Hospitality

The Hon. L.A. CURRAN (15:19): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Industrial Relations regarding employment safety in hospitality.

Leave granted.

The Hon. L.A. CURRAN:The Advertiser, on 11 October, reported an incident where a fast-food employee at McDonald's had objects thrown at them, was spat at and was verbally harassed. With hospitality workers having to cop abuse and minimal consequences for customers, what action is the minister taking to ensure the safety of hospitality workers?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:20): I thank the honourable member for her question. It is a very important question about some of the behaviour that has faced those who have been effectively on the frontline during COVID.

We have seen in hospitality—and also I think the honourable member mentioned McDonald's, retail and fast food—people working during COVID bearing the brunt of the frustration of consumers, often with results that have led to assaults of retail workers and those in hospitality areas, who were effectively serving us during the pandemic. It was something that had been agitated and brought to our attention by those who represented people particularly in retail and the fast-food industry, the level of abuse, essentially, that those who worked in those areas were suffering, and that was highlighted during COVID.

We know that in some areas it was the workers themselves who were the ones who suffered at the hands of those who were frustrated, and sometimes without security guards employed in some of those areas. In particular, I know that the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, the union that represents many in the retail and fast-food sector, had a campaign that was very successful, No One Deserves a Serve, which was designed to educate and highlight the problem that is faced by many in these industries, effectively on the frontline.

One very significant measure that we have taken as a government is that, in this parliament and through this very chamber recently, we passed a new regulation that made it an aggravated offence to assault a retail worker. That was something that had been recommended to us, and we were very pleased to take that up. Now, if someone is working effectively on the frontline as a retail worker and they are assaulted, that can be taken into account with the potential of a higher penalty.

It is an important measure to make sure that not only is there an appropriate punishment for those who commit these sorts of crimes—aggravated offence for assault against retail workers—but one of the other important elements is the deterrence effect. The fact that we passed these laws sends a very strong signal in a couple of ways. Firstly, it is a strong signal that we have listened to the plight of those on the frontline in areas like retail and fast food, who have been at the frontline during the COVID pandemic, and we have recognised the issues that they are facing and the circumstances that they have found themselves in just going to work every day to serve people.

It also recognises and acts as a deterrent for those who might engage in this sort of behaviour, with significant publicity for the No One Deserves a Serve campaign and SafeWork SA also backing it up with an education program. The aim and ambition are for people to know that they will face higher penalties and to deter them from engaging in this sort of behaviour in the first place.