Annual Report extract: Safety and security

The safety of our customers, business partners, community and people is our highest priority. We aim to create a safe, secure and welcoming destination for everyone to enjoy.

Our approach to security

We invest in our security practices and aim to continuously improve our capability, processes and people’s preparedness to respond to critical incidents. Our approach to security involves working in close partnership with law enforcement authorities, including police and relevant government agencies.

The role of security personnel is to observe, report and escalate to the appropriate authorities. They also provide first aid where practical and support authorities in emergency response. Our security are not law enforcement. This is the role of police.

Part of our continuous improvement process is training exercises to prepare our people in relevant operational roles for a range of potential security and safety incidents.

We work closely with authorities, including police, and collaborate with them on emergency response and armed offender drills. This is core to our centre operations.

Armed offender drills at our Westfield destinations in 2024 included NSW Police, Queensland Police Service, the Australian Defence Force, South Australia Police, and the Australian Federal Police.

We examine potential enhancements from around the world to further improve our security and safety procedures, including emerging technologies.

We heightened security across all Westfield destinations following the events of 7 October 2023 and further enhanced this following the attack at Westfield Bondi on 13 April 2024.

After the Bondi attack, we introduced additional personal protective equipment, including vests, for all security officers in every centre.

Initiatives have been tested in our destinations including a team safety camera trial that are being rolled out to all 42 Westfield destinations in Australia and New Zealand. We continue to explore video analytics and enhanced CCTV and security control room capabilities.

Our security team

We directly employ global security experts within our business as well as experienced risk and security personnel.

Each of our Westfield destinations has a dedicated security team, including team members sourced from our contracted partners who supplement our internal capability.

Our team constantly assess risk within our operating environments and make appropriate adjustments to
our security posture.

Since 7 October 2023, we have been operating with heightened levels of security across our Westfield portfolio in Australia and New Zealand, which includes more guards on shift.

Immediately following the horrific attack at Westfield Bondi, we further increased our security presence across the Westfield portfolio.

During the year, management established a security working group as part of our commitment to our destinations providing a safe and secure environment for our communities. Several Board members joined the working group to assist the Board in its oversight responsibilities and to provide support and insights to management.

We remain committed to working in partnership on the shared issue of community safety and drive security collaboration across law enforcement, industry partners and security providers.

In Australia, we played a lead role in establishing the Retail Crime Industry Partnership designed to elevate the importance of community safety and crime within retail settings to the attention of national policymakers. Governance for this partnership is led by the Shopping Centre Council of Australia.

For more information: https://www.scentregroup.com/investors/annual-reporting-suite
2024 Annual Report, Scentre Group, page 17