The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Assault on Retail Workers) Bill 2023 (NSW) (the Bill) seeks to introduce three new offences into pt 3 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) (The Crimes Act).  These will make it an offence to:

• assault, throw a missile at, stalk, harass or intimidate a retail worker in the course of the worker’s duty, even if no actual bodily harm is caused to the worker, with a maximum penalty of 4 years’ imprisonment;
• assault a retail worker in the course of the worker’s duty and cause actual bodily harm to the worker, with a maximum penalty of 6 years’ imprisonment; and
• wound or cause grievous bodily harm to a retail worker in the course of the worker’s duty, being reckless as to causing actual bodily harm to the worker or another person, with a maximum penalty of 11 years’ imprisonment.

It is a requirement of the NSW Parliament that government bills introduced in the Legislative Council (Upper House) must be accompanied by a Statement of Public Interest (SPI). 

This document evaluates the Government's SPI that makes the case for legislative reform.

It finds that the amendments provided in the Bill are necessary to include a standalone provision in the Crimes Act with specific offences for assaults and other actions on retail workers. The information in the Government SPI adequately answers the required questions set out in Standing Orders, however more detail could have been provided.

The Government SPI itself is not intended to establish an evidence base for the legislation, thus in assessing the SPI the assessors note that it adequately responded to the required questions set out in Standing Orders. It could have provided more detail about how the Bill was drafted and who was consulted, considering there was no opportunity for a public consultation. This should not be taken as criticism of the aims of the Bill, only that it is difficult to determine to what extent it is in the public interest without more detail about how the scope of the provisions was decided and why decisions were made in drafting. This is lacking in the Government SPI.

Assessment: Adequate