A Queensland council has been forced to ramp up efforts to protect its staff amid a surge in abuse from the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sunshine Coast Council reported 73 incidents of aggressive and violent behaviour towards workers from January to August this year.<\/p>\n
That was almost the total reported for 2024, with 66 incidents reported in 2023.<\/p>\n
Five physical assaults have been reported so far this year, compared to three in 2024 and none in 2023.<\/p>\n
Over the same time period, verbal abuse also rose from 14 incidents to 20.<\/p>\n
Council CEO John Baker said it was having a “profound effect” on staff’s ability to safely conduct their work.<\/p>\n
“It is happening across the organisation, from customer service to parks and gardens, libraries, roads, waste, community facilities, contractors and even volunteers,” the CEO said.<\/p>\n
“These are not isolated incidents. They are serious, and they are unacceptable.”<\/p>\n
Parks and gardens staff have also found themselves the target of abuse. (Supplied: Sunshine Coast Council)<\/p>\n
Extra protection in place<\/p>\n
The council has been stepping up measures to protect staff, with security guards and body-worn cameras used as a deterrent in some cases.<\/p>\n
Staff have also been provided ‘de-escalation’ training and are being encouraged to report any issues immediately.<\/p>\n
“I hope with our community\u2019s help and support we can work together to improve the situation. Kindness and respect are paramount,” Mr Baker said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Council CEO John Baker is calling for kindness and respect for workers. (Supplied: Sunshine Coast Council)<\/p>\n
Tom Rivers, The Services Union’s lead organiser for local government, said it was “extremely concerning” to see a rise in aggressive incidents.<\/p>\n
He said the action taken by council was a “fantastic first step”.<\/p>\n
“I think the next step is talking to staff, talking to the union and really having a bit of a deeper dive,” Mr Rivers said.<\/p>\n
“And doing risk assessments at a much earlier stage.<\/p>\n
“It shouldn’t just be that it’s after these incidents are happening or that there’s a rise in these incidents \u2014 they need to be actively trying to lower staff risks.”<\/p>\n
Call centre staff have become targets of verbal abuse. (Supplied: Sunshine Coast Council)<\/p>\n
A COVID legacy?<\/p>\n
Emily Moir, senior lecturer in criminology and justice at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said there has been a noticeable increase in violence towards government workers since the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
“What we have seen nationally across Australia is a rise in anti-government beliefs,” Dr Moir said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dr Moir says anti-government sentiment has been rising since the pandemic. (Supplied.)<\/p>\n
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, government-implemented public health measures were introduced, including the lockdowns.<\/p>\n
“Some people in the community saw these measures as really draconian \u00a0… so local council workers would be seen as representatives of the government and therefore vulnerable to different types of harassment and abuse.”<\/p>\n
She said the de-escalation training would be critical in helping prevent future incidents.<\/p>\n
“It’s not to excuse or accept aggressive behaviour but it’s really just trying to calm that situation down rather than get escalated into an argument,” Dr Moir said.<\/p>\n
“It could also be worthwhile trying to understand where these sorts of incidents of harassment are occurring.<\/p>\n
“If they are occurring mostly when council workers are out by themselves, then having council workers go out in pairs or groups may also serve as a safety measure.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Queensland council has been forced to ramp up efforts to protect its staff amid a surge in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[88375,123617,123616,123613,123618,43,44,111191,123614,41,39,42,40,123615],"class_list":["post-196511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-attacks","tag-bodycam","tag-bodyworn-cameras","tag-council-workers","tag-de-escalation-training","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-security-guards","tag-sunshine-coast-council","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-verbal-assaults"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}