In short: Aggression towards people in service roles is rising in Australia, from shop floors and ambulances to electorate offices. Much of it builds in experiences that leave people feeling unheard long before they reach a person. Businesses that humanise both sides of the counter, the customer and the person serving them, reduce that friction, protect their people and earn trust a competitor cannot copy.
Key takeaways
• 88% of retail and fast food workers surveyed by the SDA in 2025 experienced verbal abuse in the past year, and 25% faced physical violence, double the 2023 rate (SDA, 2025).
• 88% of NSW nurses and midwives surveyed had experienced or witnessed violence or aggression at work, up from 80% in 2019 (NSWNMA, March 2026).
• The AFP received 1,067 reports of harassing or threatening behaviour towards federal parliamentarians and high office holders in 2025-26, up from 951 in 2024-25 (InDaily, 21 October 2026).
• 75% of customer-facing workers in Australia and New Zealand say customer aggression is part of their job (Sonder).
• Faceless, anonymous interactions are a known driver of aggression, and humanising staff is one of the remedies researchers recommend (QUT).
What did the Prime Minister mean by a rise in temperature?
He was describing the tone of public life, where disagreement is turning into hostility. After independent MP Helen Haines was critically injured outside her Wangaratta electorate office on 19 October 2026, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said "there has been a rise in temperature" and that there was "too much shouting, not enough discourse" (WGCU/AP, 19 October 2026). A man has since been charged and police say no motive has been confirmed (Al Jazeera, 21 October 2026). Our thoughts are with Helen Haines, her family and her team.
The temperature he described is not confined to politics. It shows up at the supermarket checkout, in the back of an ambulance, at the hospital bedside and on the end of a phone line. Anyone whose job is to serve the public is feeling it.
What is customer aggression?
Customer aggression is any verbal, physical or online behaviour by a customer, patient or member of the public that intimidates, threatens or harms the person serving them. It ranges from yelling and abuse to spitting, threats and physical assault. The person on the receiving end might be a shop assistant, a paramedic, a call centre operator, a receptionist or an elected representative.
How bad is customer aggression in Australia right now?
It is common, it is rising, and it now crosses almost every kind of public-facing work.
• Retail and fast food. In the SDA's 2025 survey of its members, 88% had experienced verbal abuse in the past year, 25% had faced physical violence and 10% had been spat on. 34% said they do not feel safe at work (SDA, 2025). A separate national survey of shoppers found 71% had experienced or witnessed abuse of retail or fast food workers (Inside Retail, May 2026).
• Health. 88% of NSW nurses and midwives surveyed had experienced or witnessed violence or aggression at work, up from 80% in 2019, and fewer than two in ten who reported it believed any action followed (NSWNMA, March 2026).
• Emergency services. Ambulance Victoria recorded 10 very serious offences against paramedics in three days over Christmas 2025 (ABC News, 30 December 2025). In April 2026, a MICA paramedic was stabbed while on duty (Ambulance Victoria, 30 April 2026).
• Politics. AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett said her teams are charging "almost one individual every week" for targeting federal parliamentarians or high office holders (InDaily, 21 October 2026).
• Every customer-facing role. In a survey of 2,007 Australian and New Zealand workers, 75% of those in customer-facing roles said aggression is part of the job and 25% face it weekly or more (Sonder).
Why are people angrier with the people serving them?
Because frustration builds in the system and is released on the nearest human. Professor Gary Mortimer of QUT's School of Advertising, Marketing and PR identifies four drivers (QUT). Two of them should worry every business owner:
• Disconnected interactions. Brief, anonymous exchanges invite more aggression than ongoing relationships. People rarely abuse a hairdresser or pharmacist they know by name.
• Displaced aggression. When people cannot reach the real cause of their frustration, such as a policy, a delay or a broken process, they direct it at whoever is in front of them.
Read those two together and the marketing problem is obvious. Many organisations have designed the humanity out of their customer journey. A phone tree with no exit. A chatbot that loops. A policy written by someone who never meets a customer. A delivery delay nobody explains. By the time the customer reaches a real person, the frustration has been building for twenty minutes, and the person who had nothing to do with it absorbs the lot.
None of this excuses abuse. It does tell us where a business can step in early.
What does humanising look like on both sides of the counter?
Humanising means designing every interaction so both people in it are treated as people. That applies equally to the buyer and the seller, the patient and the clinician, the voter and the representative.
For the customer
• Tell people what is happening and why. Wait times, delays and policy decisions land far better when they are explained in plain English before someone has to ask.
• Give every automated path a way out. Automation should make it faster to reach help, not harder. If a person cannot reach a human when they need one, the frustration simply transfers to the next human they meet.
• Put names and faces on your business. Introduce your team on your website, in your emails and at the counter. QUT notes that building emotional connection by humanising staff is one way to discourage poor behaviour.
For your people
• Give them the authority to fix things. Displaced aggression peaks when the person in front of the customer is powerless to help.
• Draw a clear line and hold it. Respect runs both ways. After Workplace Protection Orders were placed on 13 high harm offenders in the ACT, offences across Woolworths' Canberra stores fell 23% (Inside Retail, May 2026).
• Support them after an incident. In Sonder's research, 29% of workers who experienced aggression received no support from their employer, and only 24% were given a chance to talk it through (Sonder).
Why is this a marketing issue, not just an HR issue?
Because every point of friction is a brand moment, and your frontline people are your brand at the moment it matters most. A customer remembers how they were treated when something went wrong far longer than any campaign. A team that feels unsupported will not deliver the experience your marketing promises.
This is where customer journey mapping earns its keep. Mapping the customer journey alongside the staff journey through the same moments shows exactly where frustration builds: the unanswered email, the confusing invoice, the policy that sounds like a brush-off. Fix those, and you take heat out of the interaction before it reaches a person.
AI has a role here too, as long as it is pointed the right way. Use it to remove the repetitive work so your people have more time to be human, not to remove the human altogether (AI for Your Business).
Why does this matter more in Australia right now?
Because we like to think of ourselves as a country of the fair go, and fairness starts with how we treat the person in front of us. Tolerance is the minimum. Respect is the standard. In a climate where the Prime Minister is calling for the temperature to come down, the businesses that make people feel heard, and protect the people doing the hearing, will stand out. Not because it is a tactic, but because customers can feel the difference.
Frequently asked questions
What is customer aggression?
Customer aggression is any verbal, physical or online behaviour by a customer, patient or member of the public that intimidates, threatens or harms the person serving them. It ranges from yelling and abuse to spitting, threats and physical assault.
Is customer aggression increasing in Australia?
Yes. In the SDA's 2025 member survey, 25% of retail and fast food workers reported physical violence in the past year, double the 2023 rate. A March 2026 NSWNMA report found 88% of surveyed nurses and midwives had experienced or witnessed violence or aggression, up from 80% in 2019.
Why do customers take frustration out on frontline staff?
QUT's Professor Gary Mortimer points to brief, anonymous interactions and displaced aggression, where people cannot reach the real cause of their frustration, such as a policy, and target the nearest employee instead. Experiences that feel faceless make this more likely.
How can a small business humanise customer service?
Show customers what is happening and why, give every automated path a clear way to reach a person, and introduce your team by name. Then back your staff with authority to fix problems, a clear line on abuse and support after an incident.
Does humanising service mean tolerating abuse?
No. Respect runs both ways. Clear consequences for abuse protect staff and other customers, and humanising the experience reduces the frustration that leads to it in the first place.
Where to start
Start by finding where frustration builds in your customer journey before it lands on your team. Our Strategy Projectmaps the journey from both sides, customer and staff, and shows you which moments to fix first. Book a free strategy chat and we will look at your journey together.
