In the quiet arithmetic of everyday commerce, a supermarket chain is weighing whether to let cameras read faces at the door of two Canberra stores, in Woden and Gungahlin. The aim is to warn staff when someone already banned for violence walks in, a response to a rising tide of abuse that workers have endured across the country. It is a question that sits where the human need for safety meets the older right to move through public life unseen, and the answer will depend on the safeguards that are finally written into it.
Woolworths plans facial recognition trial in two Canberra supermarkets after 158 violent incidents
Woolworths staff face ongoing unprovoked violence and aggression; the company reports 158 violent incidents against staff in the ACT in 2025.
158 violent incidents in a year, against 16 protection orders
Mark
Why Woden and Gungahlin specifically?
Mimi
Those two stores have the highest share of workplace protection orders in the ACT. Woolworths says the territory's order system is why it chose to trial here at all.
Mark
So the technology is meant to enforce bans that already exist?
Mimi
Essentially. The orders let a magistrate bar someone from a shop, and the cameras would alert staff when a banned person walks in.
Luke
The numbers are Woolworths' own, though. 158 incidents in the ACT in 2025 is the company's count.
Mark
And only 16 orders were granted. Does that gap matter?
Luke
It's striking, but the reporting doesn't say how many of the 158 involved people who could have been banned. We can't read it as a direct measure of what the cameras would catch.
Mimi
The national figure helps a little: 30 per cent of more than 6300 incidents involved known or repeat offenders. That's the group the system targets.
Mark
What about everyone else walking in?
Mimi
Woolworths says it would keep no information on regular customers. The Retail Council wants signs at entry and immediate deletion when there's no match.
Luke
Those are the council's recommended safeguards and the company's stated intentions. The article doesn't say they're confirmed as the trial's final rules, or how a human check would work in practice.
Mark
Does the Bunnings ruling settle it?
Luke
It's relevant, since the tribunal sided with Bunnings in February 2026. But that was one retailer's case, and it doesn't settle this one.
Il Polso
- Woolworths recorded 158 violent incidents in the ACT in 2025, and the company says the toll is on track to climb this year.
- Staff are facing unprovoked aggression on the shop floor, and the company is pressing for faster ways to protect them.
- Facial recognition cameras would check every arriving customer against a secure watch list, sparking privacy alarms.
- The Australian Retail Council demands notice to customers, immediate deletion of data without a match, and human verification before any action.
- The trial is still a proposal, and its fate rests on whether those safeguards are built in before the doors open.
In the quiet arithmetic of everyday commerce, a supermarket chain is weighing whether to let cameras read faces at the door of two Canberra stores, in Woden and Gungahlin. The aim is to warn staff when someone already banned for violence walks in, a response to a rising tide of abuse that workers have endured across the country. It is a question that sits where the human need for safety meets the older right to move through public life unseen, and the answer will depend on the safeguards that are finally written into it.
Woolworths wants to test facial recognition cameras at its Woden and Gungahlin supermarkets. The cameras would scan customers as they enter and compare them against a secure list of people banned for violence or abuse, alerting staff if one appears. The two stores were picked because they have the highest concentration of workplace protection orders in the territory, court orders that bar people judged at risk of violence from returning to particular shops. Breaching one can bring a fine of up to $75,000 or five years in prison.
The pressure behind the plan is real. Woolworths holds 16 such orders in the ACT, yet logged 158 violent incidents in the territory in 2025, and more than 6300 nationally, nearly a third involving known or repeat offenders. Sarah Faorlin, the company's head of violence prevention, said it was appalling that team members keep facing unprovoked violence, and described them as someone's daughters, sons, mums and dads. ACT Policing has previously praised the orders for stopping recurrent violence.
The wider industry is watching closely. Chris Rodwell of the Australian Retail Council says the sector sees around 270 violent incidents a day, and his body backs a national rollout if it protects workers and respects privacy. He has set conditions: use only against serious repeat offenders, clear notice at entry, immediate deletion of biometric data without a match, and a trained person checking any alert before staff act. A February 2026 tribunal ruling found Bunnings was within its rights to use similar technology, but concerns about scanning every face at the door remain, and those conditions will decide whether the trial goes ahead.
Woolworths wants to put facial recognition cameras in two Canberra supermarkets, at Woden and Gungahlin, to flag people who have been banned from the stores for violence or abuse. The company has described the plan as a trial. Cameras would capture biometric information from customers as they walk in and quickly check it against a secure watch list, alerting staff if a known repeat offender is present.
The two stores were chosen because they have the highest proportion of workplace protection orders in the territory. Those orders are a feature of ACT law: they give the Magistrates Court the power to ban people judged at risk of committing personal violence from returning to particular shops. Woolworths says that is why it picked the ACT. Anyone who breaches an order can be fined up to $75,000 and face five years in prison.
The numbers behind the proposal are stark. Woolworths has had 16 workplace protection orders granted in the ACT, yet it recorded 158 violent incidents in the territory in 2025. Nationally, it logged more than 6300 violent, abusive or threatening incidents that year, and 30 per cent involved known or repeat offenders. The company says the figures are on track to be higher this year.
Sarah Faorlin, Woolworths' head of violence prevention, called it appalling that team members keep facing unprovoked violence and aggression while doing their jobs. She said the staff are "your daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, mums and your dads", and that the company will exhaust every avenue to get them home safe. She said the orders have proven effective in the ACT, but that assessing facial recognition in-store is another way to protect staff and customers.
ACT Policing has previously backed the orders. In June, a police spokesperson said they had been very effective in stopping recurrent violence, adding that some recidivist offenders had stopped the offending completely while others had changed their behaviour.
Woolworths says the system would not keep information on regular customers. If it works as described, it would alert staff to known repeat violent, abusive or threatening people, so they can decide sooner what to do, including calling the police.
The wider retail industry is watching. Chris Rodwell, chief executive of the Australian Retail Council, said there are on average 270 violent incidents every day across Australian retail stores, supermarkets and shopping centres. He said the council fully supports a nationally consistent rollout of facial recognition, provided it protects workers and respects customer privacy. His conditions: use only for identifying known repeat offenders who pose a serious safety risk, notices to customers on entry, immediate deletion of biometric data when there is no match, and a trained person verifying any potential match before staff act.
There is legal precedent of a kind. In February 2026, the Administrative Review Tribunal found that Bunnings was within its rights to use such a system to limit theft and violence against staff. Privacy concerns about scanning every customer's face at the door remain, and the safeguards Mr Rodwell listed are the ones to watch if the Woden and Gungahlin trial goes ahead.
Citazioni salienti
We fully support a nationally consistent rollout of facial recognition in a way that protects retail workers and respects a customer's privacy.— Chris Rodwell, chief executive, Australian Retail Council
It is appalling that team members continue to face unprovoked violence and aggression while doing their jobs.— Sarah Faorlin, Woolworths head of violence prevention (paraphrased)
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Crime & Justice