John Madigan (Victoria, Democratic Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister explain why legislation is in place to provide retailers with recourse to criminal sanctions for the most minor acts of shoplifting whilst manufacturers who may be subject to the theft of tens of thousands of dollars in property, such as proprietary computer code, only have recourse to expensive and time-consuming civil law, with no certainty of recovering either their property or legal expenses?