Retailers Association chief Paul Zahra calls on Dan Andrews to lift vaccine checks early

Dear Premier,

On behalf of Australian Retailers Association (ARA), we congratulate your government on achieving Victoria’s recent vaccination milestones, which will play a significant part in the state’s overall pandemic recovery.

Following our correspondence of November 16, 2021, we write to advise of a number of significant concerns experienced by ‘non-essential’ retail businesses since restrictions changed within Victoria. Unfortunately, the events of the past week have created enormous challenges for retailers and their teams — who represent one in 10 Victorian workers.

Customer aggression levels

Of primary concern is the elevated customer aggression levels within Victorian retail stores. Our members have reported thousands of incidences of customer aggression including many acts of significant violence towards retail staff — such as staff being beaten up, an instance of a boiling cup of coffee being thrown over a frontline worker and a shopping trolley being thrown at another. The reports of customer aggression are coming from a broad range of retailers — from department stores to hardware stores, along with small businesses and even charity shops, many of which have had to put security guards at their doors.

The timing and the stop-start nature of the vaccine checking requirement, following freedoms experienced by unvaccinated Victorians, has been extremely challenging for retailers to manage.

Customer aggression has remained a problem throughout the pandemic. However, the behaviour exhibited by customers during the past week reached peak levels, resulting in many retail staff becoming fearful to return to work. As you can appreciate, not only does this pose serious mental health risks, it also makes it extremely difficult for retailers to operate during the busiest shopping season of the year.

The current skills crisis has already seen many retail and hospitality outlets close due to lack of available staff. This, coupled with the enormous pressure retailers are already under due to supply chain issues and the intensity of Christmas and Black Friday trade, it is creating unprecedented levels of anxiety.

The cost and mental health toll of this on retailers of all sizes, but in particular small businesses, is of great concern.

Communication challenges

Last Thursday in the midst of Black Friday preparations, retailers were required to pivot their business focus on the immediate requirement for vaccine checking — with only a few hours notice given by the Victorian government. For many retailers, this entailed recruitment or rostering of COVID-19 marshalls for one or several entrances. Not only was this at great cost to retail, it also meant finding additional staff with limited preparation time. Retail rostering happens days and usually weeks in advance — in many instances required by law.

The inclusion of children in the customer vaccination requirements was also a surprise move which was introduced without adequate communication, training materials or signage to assist staff and customers in navigating this change. Naturally customers were also taken by surprise with this new requirement.

Retailers were further blindsided by the bringing forward of staff vaccination requirements from the previously legislated date of November 26 for a second dose to November 19 — without any warning.

These requirements were introduced with very little information on the record and without the provision of a public health order until the day of the legislation coming into place. There was the added complexity of the published public health orders contradicting each other around the required dates for staff vaccinations in ‘non-essential’ retail. Larger retailers may have the benefit of a lawyer to interpret these public health directions, but small businesses don’t stand a chance navigating this confusing legislation the day it came into effect.

Despite our best efforts at the ARA, we were unable to get clarity from your office or the department on this staff vaccination matter until the evening of November 19. We also received contradictory advice from the department about staff vaccinations and had to correct this advice with our members causing great confusion and unnecessary further stress.

ARA recommendations moving forward

We believe many of these challenges could have been minimised or avoided entirely with appropriate consultation and planning with the retail community.

We can only repeat our request for improved consultation, accurate and timely communications and the urgent provision of the final phase plan so retailers can understand and prepare for next steps — avoiding clumsy staff and customer communication and ensuring we maintain the highest levels of staff and customer safety.

We also repeat our strong recommendation that vaccination checking is brought into line with the restrictions in place within NSW, which lift on December 15. As borders ease domestically and internationally, it makes no sense to have Australia’s two biggest states at odds around these matters causing unnecessary cost and confusion to business and customers.

In closing, the Christmas trading period is when most discretionary retailers make up to two-thirds of their profits. These retailers alongside hair and beauty operators, CBD and travel retailers and small business have been the most affected by lockdowns. Anything we can do to understand and ease their pressures will go a long way towards a business recovery. In doing so, we will also be relieving stress and mental health challenges for one in 10 Victorian workers.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Zahra, CEO, Australian Retailers Association