Western Australia’s state government has passed its Retail Barring Orders (RBOs) Bill 2025 through the House, in a move that has been described as “critical” to protect workers from rising retail crime.

The bill described its purpose as being to “provide for orders to prevent people from committing retail violence or otherwise stalking or harassing retail workers by imposing restraints on their behaviour and activities”. The Australian Retail Council (ARC) said it will allow the courts to ban offenders that pose an “ongoing risk” from entering a specific retail premises.

“This is a significant win for retail worker safety across Western Australia and we congratulate the government and all sides of parliament for getting these important protections in place,” said ARC CEO, Chris Rodwell.

“Retail workers should be able to go to work without being abused, threatened or assaulted. These laws provide an effective way to stop known offenders returning to stores and putting workers and customers at further risk.”

Rodwell claimed that a “cohort” of repeat offenders “cause most of the traumatic incidents in stores, shopping centres and supermarkets”. He argued that RBOs will allow the law to intervene before another worker’s safety is threatened.

The move comes after figures showed 679 people have been charged with assaulting a retail worker in WA since July 2024. WA Police figures also identified more than 1100 retail theft offenders who had been processed for more than one retail theft offence in the prior 12 months.

“Retail workers deserve the same protections regardless of which state or territory they work in.

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