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There are about 4,000 people working in slave-like conditions in Australia including fishing, sex work, farming and cleaning services. Photograph: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
There are about 4,000 people working in slave-like conditions in Australia including fishing, sex work, farming and cleaning services. Photograph: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Modern slavery bill welcomed, but no penalties for breaching act

This article is more than 5 years old

Bill requires about 3,000 companies to publish annual statements on measures taken to address modern slavery

A bill requiring Australia’s biggest companies to address modern slavery in their supply chains has been welcomed by anti-slavery and civil society groups, though some campaigners have raised concerns there are no penalties involved for companies who breach the act.

The Turnbull government has introduced a Modern Slavery Bill to parliament that will require Australia’s largest businesses, with annual consolidated revenue of more than $100m, to publish annual statements on the steps they are taking to address modern slavery in their supply chains and operations.

It will affect roughly 3,000 companies, and their annual slavery statements will have to be signed off at board level, to be published within six months of the publication of their annual reports.

The Turnbull government says it will also start publishing an annual statement on possible modern slavery risks in commonwealth procurement. The Department of Home Affairs will produce the annual statement on behalf of the government.

The legislation will be reviewed after three years, to see if it’s working.

The government has committed $3.6m to establish a “modern slavery business engagement unit” to be housed within the Department of Home Affairs. The unit will advise Australian businesses on the best way to address slavery in their supply chains and operations.

There are roughly 4,000 people working in slave-like conditions in Australia in industries including agriculture, fishing, sex work, mining, construction, farming, and cleaning services (including in diplomatic residences).

Jenny Stanger, national manager of the Salvation Army’s Freedom Partnership to End Modern Slavery, said it was “historic legislation” and an important first step.

“It’s not quite Wilberforce ending slavery but it’s up there,” she told Guardian Australia.

NSW Liberal MP Alex Hawke has been driving the project, and used the United Kingdom’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 as a model.

He introduced the draft legislation to the House of Representatives on Thursday, saying it would enable large businesses, consumers, civil society and government to work together to eliminate modern slavery in supply chains.

“Importantly, we are asking businesses to report on both what has and what has not worked in their efforts to stamp out modern slavery,” he said.

“Over time, we believe this bill will foster a ‘race to the top’ culture that will ensure Australia is a regional and world leader in tackling modern slavery in supply chains.”

It has been welcomed by civil society groups, anti-slavery campaigners, and lawyers who have been pushing for years for such a bill to be introduced at the federal level. However, those same groups have raised concerns, saying it won’t penalise companies for breaching the act, which was a key recommendation of last year’s Modern Slavery Inquiry.

Keren Adams, director of legal advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the seriousness and scale of labour rights abuses heard by a recent parliamentary inquiry highlighted the need for robust laws to address them.

“We’ve heard horrific stories of abuse linked to some of Australia’s biggest brands. Burmese migrants chained to Thai fishing boats supplying the seafood we eat, Australian surf wear made in North Korean sweatshops,” Adams said.

“And even here in Australia, people working on farms and in restaurants in slave-like conditions.

“It’s absolutely the right step for the government to be introducing legislation to help flush out abuse, but today’s bill is missing some vital ingredients that would make it effective in doing so,” Adams said.

Oxfam Australia’s economic policy adviser Joy Kyriacou said the bill should include penalties for companies that fail to report, or report misleading information on, the steps they have taken to combat modern slavery.

The Law Council said the proposed revenue threshold for reporting requirements should be no higher than $60m (rather than the proposed $100m), and the bill should include access to a national redress scheme for victims of modern slavery.

It also said the government needed to establish an anti-slavery commissioner to enforce the legislation.

Clare O’Neil, the shadow minister for justice, welcomed the bill but said she was “deeply disappointed” at the absence of penalties for companies that breach the act.

“We shouldn’t be leaving it to business to police themselves on slavery,” she said.

“We are also baffled by the government’s decision to set up a business engagement unit to “support businesses”, rather than an independent anti-slavery commissioner to help victims.

But anti-slavery advocate Alison Rahill said it was a momentous day: “this has got to be the ‘turning point’”.

“This is the conversation I’ve been having across the country in regional Australia, in the horticultural and agricultural regions, the ground zero for exploitation,” she told Guardian Australia.

“We’ve been saying to people ‘when this modern slavery act is going to be introduced, things will be different, your voice will be heard, there will be a focus on the terrible living and working conditions, the gouging of wages, the deceptive recruiting’. Because people in these conditions have felt ignored.”

“Now, this is recognition from the top, from federal parliament, that these things are happening and they must stop.”

The government released a discussion paper on modern slavery in August 2017, and held 12 roundtables with businesses and civil society partners.

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