MovieChat Forums > Muriel's Wedding (1995) Discussion > Shoplifting laws in Australia

Shoplifting laws in Australia

posted 17 years ago by bethandblake
31 replies | jump to latest

The store detective who arrested Muriel at the wedding -- how did she get away with that accusation? Why was the law automatically on the detective's side? Muriel was presumed guilty. Neither did they cut her mother any slack for forgetting to pay for the shoes. If you can call them "shoes". They looked more like crappy $2 cheap plastic flipflops, and the price on them was something like $8! Couldn't the store detective have stopped the mother before she left the store and reminded her to pay? To my American point of view, it all seems so wrong. Is everyone in Australia guilty until proven innocent?

[–] willjohn 10 years ago

In real life a store security officer would have had to see her steal the dress and call the Police.

[–] Arctic_Wizard 9 years ago

Isn't that implied, at the beginning? When the store detective says, 'I'm so pleased. I had the perfect arrest record until I lost her in *name of place*' - in other words, she called the police, at the time, but Muriel had already disappeared.

"Your times over, *beep*. We're cummin to get ya".

[–] Isau 9 years ago

It's a joke. The "senior store detective" is meant to be a little bit ridiculous, like a lot of characters in this are. She takes her job way too seriously. She's meant to make Porpoise Spit look even more dreary and backwards.