This is the best summary I could come up with:

The supermarket recently announced a $1.1 billion annual profit, but it also reported a spike in shoplifting and attacks directed at staff.

Theft is costing Australian grocery giants hundreds of millions of dollars annually, with Coles reporting a 20 per cent jump in stock loss.

"The use of these cameras has seen a substantial reduction in the amount of abuse and physical incidents our teams have faced," a Woolworths spokesperson said.

Retail theft is up across the board, driven by the rising cost of living, according to the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees' Association.

Mr Peak says while the association welcomes the use of cameras, it believes they should only be used for deterring or filming threats towards staff, rather than "asset protection" for supermarkets.

"We don't want any suggestion that workers are some kind of mobile security camera – that's where we can absolutely see this actually [causing] violence and abuse."

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