Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to take the opportunity to commend the work of the members of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade in their inquiry into establishing a modern slavery act in Australia and also looking at the global supply chains. The broad support of the committee in its interim report for a modern slavery act—including supply chain reporting requirements for companies, businesses, organisations of all kinds and governments—as well as the in-principle commitment to the establishment of an independent antislavery commissioner are really good to see. I'd like to speak about some of these elements even though I haven't been on the committee.

Firstly, though, I'd like to talk about the women I've met who have been slaves. This inquiry has, rightly, been focused on supply chains that businesses operating in Australia use and the relative lack of reporting that we have compared to other nations, like the UK. But, of course, we do have slavery happening here, and I'm very pleased that the committee's looked at that too. I was privileged in my pre-politics life to work with an organisation that helped slaves, and that's where my eyes were opened to just how scarily easy it is for someone to be enslaved. The Salvation Army's Freedom Partnership supports people who were slaves. One woman was working as a housekeeper and child carer. She had no freedom, no rights and no independence; her whole life was ruled by the family. She had no opportunity to contact her own family, yet she was able, through contact with one human being, to escape that situation, and now she's on a path of recovery. Another woman—a young, intelligent woman—had been trafficked by a pimp from Australia across several countries. It was thanks to her evidence that a major joint operation by Australian and US authorities led to the arrest of this man and his jailing in the United States. It's her story to tell and I'm not going to tell it, but what I saw was enormous bravery from both these women to recognise that the situation they were in was not one where they were free. They needed to get out and they had somewhere to turn to for help. The stories are painful and the details are painful, and I was so privileged to be able to help them tell their stories. We need to ensure that an antislavery commissioner is there to help victims like these, the victims of modern slavery, right here in Australia, right now.

This committee report also seeks to address the issues facing women, men and children whose stories we are much less likely to hear, often because they're not in Australia or they're very hidden. It's about how we as consumers unwittingly support their slavery in the decisions that we make. I'm very supportive of an Australian modern slavery act that would require major Australian companies to publicly report on the steps they're taking to tackle slavery in their business or supply chain. It would ensure no Australian company is either directly or indirectly engaged in modern slavery. Members of my community met with me about these issues last month. Libby Sorrell and Yvonne Harrison are part of Stop the Traffik, which is a coalition of organisations and includes the Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans, ACRATH, whom I also met with recently—and I'm sure other members in this place have as well. I want to echo their concerns, some of which are highlighted in this interim report. I also particularly want to note that it's thanks to Libby Sorrell that I became aware of the push to have an act that would prevent and respond to modern slavery in Australia, so I offer my thanks to Libby.

One concern that my constituents have is the threshold at which companies will be required to report. A figure is obviously really difficult to come up with, but I'd urge the committee and the drafters of any subsequent legislation to have a model which considers the level of risk involved. A big business with complete visibility in its supply chain is lower risk than a small or medium business with a supply chain across a number of countries which are high risk and in an industry which is high risk. As the committee's evidence has shown, we know that several of our neighbouring nations are more likely to have people living in slavery. Production in those countries may be considered higher risk. We also know some industries in some places—agriculture, mining and manufacturing—carry higher risk. So I'd urge real thought to be given to the best way to determine who is required to report and who's allowed to have a choice to opt in. I was pleased to see the committee gives in-principle support for lists of at-risk industries, at-risk areas and at-risk groups in Australia and with the Australian supply chains and for those lists to be published by the government.

Another issue that has come up is around the central registry of these documents. The reports on supply chains and antislavery efforts need to be available and accessible. Baptist World Aid, who compile the Ethical Fashion Report, suggest using a standard template that would allow an easy comparison of data. I note that the interim report talks about flexibility in reporting but at the same time recognises that reporting requirements should be clear for businesses and organisations. I know that a number of Australian businesses are already reporting in other countries that they operate in and that they are very comfortable in extending their reporting requirements to Australia.

I want to talk about penalties. It's all very well to have recommended legislation, but I think we need to be looking at penalties. It's really crucial that penalties be part of any modern slavery act. I'm disappointed to see that the committee does not in principle support penalties, as it says they may act as a deterrent to companies investigating the ethics of their supply chain. We should not leave big business to police itself. It doesn't have a great track record of it. Without penalties, any act is toothless and, quite frankly, will be a disappointment to people who've been fighting for this for a very long time.

I want to go back to the recognition in this report that there needs to be an independent antislavery commissioner. I realise that the committee will address this issue in more detail in its final report. The role of the commissioner can include working with companies to assist them in establishing practices to avoid slavery in their supply chains with guidelines and resources. A commissioner can make sure victims are connected to necessary support services, and we already have some of those support services here in Australia. A commissioner could investigate reported slavery, and it can be constantly prompting and advocating on this issue in the way that community members from my electorate have been doing for many years.

In 2015 Australia agreed to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Member states have a target to meet these objectives by 2030. Goal 8.7 is:

Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms

Surely this is not too much to ask. The only way Australian consumers can be aware of the potential connection between the products they consume and human trafficking, forced labour and slavery is if all organisations are required to be transparent about the way their products are sourced or made. The only way we can fulfil our international commitment on this issue is to have really robust legislation and an eagle eye on those supply chains.

There are nearly 50 million people estimated to be living in slavery around the world. Two-thirds are in the Asia-Pacific region, and 4,300 of them are in Australia now. I want to thank the committee members for their hearings and work to date, and I look forward to a final report being a blueprint for Australia to truly tackle modern slavery.

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