Centrelink outlets to have additional security after Services Australia staff member stabbed

Extra security staff will be hired and penalties toughened to ensure the safety of frontline public servants in the wake of an attack.

Services Australia officer Joeanne Cassar was stabbed at the Airport West office in Melbourne in May.

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The incident sparked a security risk management review of all service centres, which support around 10 million Australians each year.

Government Services Minister Bill Shorten said the review by former Victorian police commissioner Graham Ashton made 44 recommendations.

“The reforms include an extra 278 trained security staff at key offices, taking the total number to 513,” Shorten said in Melbourne on Friday.

“And when the very small proportion of Australians who choose to assault and batter and attack Commonwealth public officers trying to help people, we will be increasing the penalties they get.”

The changes will also include an easier path to secure apprehended violence orders against perpetrators.

“A loophole in the law which I discovered is that if Joeanne was feeling pressured or intimated as a result of an assault or particular perpetrator or an accused, she herself, the individual employee of the government, would have to take an individual action against a perpetrator,” the minister said.

“So we’re going to change the protection orders so that the Commonwealth can take a protection order on behalf of one of its employees.”

The physical layout of hundreds of offices will also be examined to ensure they offer the greatest level of safety for staff.