Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Justice) Share this | Hansard source

I'm incredibly proud to stand here and speak on this bill, which, for the first time, will require companies to look into their supply chains to identify modern slavery. I do so on behalf of a Labor caucus who led this debate from the very beginning. I'm making a contribution on behalf of a group of people for whom this is absolute core business. I'm really proud to contribute on their behalf.

Most Australians think that slavery is history. When I speak to people about their depictions of slavery, they often reach for pop culture references. One of the most common references that comes up is the 2013 Oscar winning film 12 Years a Slavesome people in the chamber or in the gallery may have seen it before. This is a truly gut-wrenching depiction of the trans-Atlantic slave trade that took so many Africans across the Atlantic to work in slavery in the United States. 'I don't want to survive. I want to live.' Those are the words of the central character who suffered at the hands of this brutal trade. They rung in my ears for weeks after I watched this film.

What is most disturbing about this movie is actually not the incredible violence that was part of this trade or even the fact that people were treated literally as property but the fact that slavery at that time was so normal for so many people that it was defended as something that was right and natural. We have come an enormous way since then and, of course, just about every person who we would speak to in this country would agree that depriving someone of their liberty is a gross violation of human rights. But society didn't progress to that view by accident. It took activists, thinkers, philosophers, politicians and community leaders to stand up and make the argument and change people's thinking, and they succeeded in doing that.

With that change in thinking, most people believe that slavery has become a thing of the past. That is not the reality. The transatlantic slave trade that was depicted in 12 Years a Slave saw 12½ million people transported across the Atlantic over 300 years. We know, because of the incredible work of the Walk Free Foundation, that today there are somewhere around 48 million people trapped in slavery in the world. As we stand in this parliament today, there are more people enslaved around the world than there have been at any other point in human history. We've got big responsibilities to continue the fine work that has been happening over hundreds of years to try to stamp out this practice.

What we also know about slavery is that two-thirds of those 48 million people are trapped in the Asia-Pacific, right on our doorstep. Even within our own country, we know that there are somewhere around 4,300 people who are trapped in slavery—our region, our responsibility. The lives of the people who are enslaved today might feel very remote from people who are listening to the debate today. But, in reality, their lives and ours are intertwined. These people are part of the global supply chains of some of the food we eat, the products we purchase and the clothes we wear.

As we deal with the bill before us, there are going to be lots of discussions about provisions and amendments and different sections. But I want to start today by talking about the people who are at the end of this horrible practice. Thailand is the largest source of seafood imports into Australia. In small parts of the Thai seafood industry, the abuse and exploitation of workers is severe. There are reports of people being trapped as slaves on ships and kept out at sea for years—literally trapped on ships so that they have no way to escape. Some of these people are reportedly forced to work up to 22 hours a day on criminally-run fishing vessels. In some cases there have been allegations of murder being committed on these boats. What is so disturbing is the fact that Australians like you and me can't be sure whether the seafood that is caught on these boats, tainted by slavery, is making its way onto our dinner tables.

There are many companies out there who are trying very hard to eliminate slavery from their supply chains, and I genuinely applaud their efforts, but there are others who are importing seafood from Thailand and who are not at the moment looking for slavery in their supply chains. That is the crux of this bill. For so long, companies in some instances and in some quarters have argued that what goes on in their supply chains is really none of their business. Today, for the first time, the Australian parliament is standing with a relatively united voice and saying that is not the case anymore and that we do expect companies to take responsibility for what is happening in their supply chain.

The clothes we're wearing right now may indeed also be tainted by slavery. Uzbekistan is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of cotton. For decades it has reportedly used forced labour, including child labour in some instances, to harvest cotton by hand. The Uniting Church have done a lot of incredible work in this area, and they have argued that this appalling practice may meet the threshold for slave labour. They've also found that 99.5 per cent of the cotton exported from Uzbekistan to developing countries is exported into Asia, mainly to China and Bangladesh. That cotton is then milled and converted to textiles, and it can very well make its way into clothing that's sold right here in Australia.

While it's clear that products tainted by slavery are sometimes on our supermarket shelves and the shelves of shops that we shop at, many people don't even realise that slavery is in fact happening right here in our own country. In my home state of Victoria, I have heard of some appalling labour practices that are in our horticultural supply chain. I spoke to the National Union of Workers last year in the discussion about this bill and more recently, a number of weeks ago, about worker exploitation and modern slavery. They are very much on the frontline of these practices. What they told me was absolutely shocking. They told me about a transnational organisation operating both here and in Malaysia that is arranging visas, housing and transport for workers. The workers are reportedly paid only $150 for an entire week's work. They're crammed into a single house with 12 to 15 other people and they're told that, if they don't work a 17-hour day, then not only will they have no job the next day but, indeed, their physical security may be under threat and their families in the countries that they have emigrated from might be under threat. These are the faces of modern slavery. People are trapped here in our suburb, oceans away from home with no realistic way to leave.

One really heartbreaking case that I have been told about was a man who was living in Australia on a bridging visa and he'd come here to seek refuge from his home country. He was working 17-hour days on a Victorian farm, being paid well below the minimum wage, and he crashed his car and died trying to go from work to the home he'd been given.

I want to share the story of someone that we'll call Sun for this debate. This story has been shared by Anti Slavery Australia as one of the faces of slavery they're advocating for. Sun was introduced to an agent in South Korea who promised to help her find a job in the sex work industry in Sydney. Sex work is decriminalised in New South Wales, so she was not committing a crime by coming to Australia to seek work. However, when she arrived in Sydney, she quickly became a victim of modern slavery. She was placed in a sex parlour and told by the owner that she must pay a $25,000 debt for her flight and her visa. She was told she would not receive any money until her debt was paid off. She was forced to live in an apartment adjoining the parlour. She was not permitted to leave the premises unsupervised. She worked 14 hours a day, six days a week and sometimes even on her day off. She was not allowed to take safety precautions in the work she was doing. The boss of the parlour threatened Sun with deportation if she complained too much, refused a customer or tried to go to the authorities for help. She was completely genuinely trapped.

Modern slavery is happening all around us. In fact, many people listening today might be aware that recently we learned that there's modern slavery happening within a few kilometres of this building. Earlier this year, Four Corners undertook an investigation into worker exploitation in foreign embassies here in Canberra. In their report, they told the harrowing stories of three workers who were kept in slave-like conditions by diplomats living right here within a couple of kilometres of Parliament House. Sadly, we know that these are not isolated incidents. According to the Salvation Army, at least 20 domestic workers have escaped exploitation from diplomatic residences. Some of these workers were reportedly made to work 12 to 18 hours a day for a fraction of the minimum wage and were forbidden from leaving their embassies. Modern slavery is everywhere we look. The problem that we face is that we are not looking enough and that brings us to the bill before us.

Tackling slavery and exploitation is absolutely core to Labor's mission. We are absolutely committed to stamping out worker exploitation and human rights abuses. Although modern slavery is all around us, today it is a hidden problem. It's not going to be uncovered, dealt with or stamped out without meaningful attempts to change that. Last year, after many months of consultation and discussion with stakeholders, Labor announced a modern slavery policy, and the centrepiece of that was a modern slavery act. We believe that a modern slavery act will have a real impact on this problem—if that act has penalties and the establishment of an independent antislavery commissioner. The Leader of the Opposition and I were joined at the announcement of this policy by representatives of business, civil society and the union movement, including the wonderful now member for Batman.

When we announced this policy, we committed to penalties for companies who do not comply with modern slavery reporting requirements, because we believe that there is no excuse for not looking. For a long time, companies have argued that what their suppliers do is none of their business, and we just believe that is not good enough anymore. I understand there are different views in the parliament about penalties and I know that there'll be continued discussion on this subject over the coming days and weeks. I just want to make it absolutely crystal clear that complying with Australian law is not optional; it's not optional for the ordinary citizen, it's not optional for people that sit in this chamber and it should not be optional for big business.

What we believe is that fighting slavery is one of the most important things we can do to improve the human rights situation for people around the world. I find it difficult, frankly, to understand how we could create a regime that says that we would like companies to provide a public report on these matters but we're not going to require them to do so. I think we can make a clearer statement to the community and the business sector that, with them, we have a genuine and fierce commitment to fighting this issue. We are only going to be able to do that with a bill that contains penalties. So Labor will be moving amendments to this bill to introduce immediate penalties for companies that fail to submit a modern slavery statement and penalties for companies that submit inadequate modern slavery statements, with a delayed two-year start, recognising that this is going to be a change for business. For some businesses, it will be challenging to make that change, and we agree that they need some time to be able to do that.

We are also moving amendments to this bill to require the minister to make an annual report to parliament on the operation of the act and include in that report the list of companies the minister believes are required to report and those that the minister believes are noncompliant in not providing a report. If I can just make it crystal clear to the parliament, to the people at home who are watching, what's required in this act is for big Australian companies to make a report on what they are doing to ensure that there's not slavery in their supply chain. When we talk about penalties, when we talk about making a report to the parliament about who is compliant and who is not compliant, we are merely talking about companies above a certain threshold—$100 million is the amount that appears to be the view of the parliament. We are merely requiring them to make a public report. It seems to Labor and it seems to me that it is a pretty fair enough ask of business to just make that report. We do think it's appropriate, if a business in this country operating under Australian law with all the protections that that includes cannot be bothered to look into its supply chain to make a report, that it should be financially penalised and also penalised by ensuring that Australians around this country who are making consumer decisions in supermarkets, in retail stores know that there are some companies that are not compliant.

I want to make it clear that there are lots of businesses that have been extremely supportive of what is contained in this Modern Slavery Act. The report that we are asking the minister to make annually about compliance with the Modern Slavery Act will also allow the parliament the opportunity to speak about best practices and that's going to be really important too. For the companies that are doing so much hard work on this—and they are there; there are many of them—we want to make sure that the parliament has an opportunity to shine a light on what those best-practice companies are doing and, in doing so, create a race to the top.

We believe that penalties are necessary for the modern slavery act because we have a living example of what happens when an act does not contain penalties—that is, the UK version. The structure of the bill before us is very much based on what we are learning from the UK as it leads a fight to tackle slavery in its own region. There are lots of successes that we can point to in the UK act but compliance is probably, in fairness, not one of them. One of the main things that we can do in this parliament is, a number of the years after the UK's had their act in place, learn from their experience. And we can improve on it. One of the things that I believe we can very much improve on is the imposition of penalties. What we know from the UK version is that, in the three years since the UK Modern Slavery Act's enactment, only about half of the 9,000 to 11,000 organisations that the UK government estimates are required to report have produced a slavery and human trafficking statement. Just stepping back: the UK parliament requires companies above a certain threshold merely to report on what it is that they are doing to fight slavery in their supply chains and, without penalties, only half of the relevant companies in the UK are complying with that act. We're talking here about slavery, one of the gravest possible human rights violations that there is. I do think we can see and learn from that experience that if we are getting half compliance in the UK over three years then we are going to need to encourage our public companies, our big companies, in Australia to comply with this act, which I believe many of them will enthusiastically and willingly do. I do believe the UK example makes it quite clear that penalties will need to be a part of this discussion.

There is something else that's crucially important to the success of the UK modern slavery infrastructure—that is, the existence of an independent antislavery commissioner. The independent antislavery commissioner that is the subject of a second reading amendment from Labor is crucial to both supporting big business as they try to implement their statements and assisting victims who are trapped in modern slavery right here in Australia. I mentioned that there are somewhere around 4,300 people who we know are trapped in slavery in our country right now. You only need to read the newspaper to see that probably every three months or so there is a major expose of a slavery ring or some type of slavery operation occurring in our country. So the media are finding this when they look, but Senate estimates revealed last year that, in the last half decade, we have been able to secure seven convictions for slavery. There are 4,300 slaves in our country right now whose liberty is being deprived, and we've had seven convictions over five years. Clearly, there is a major issue with the way that our federal criminal law is dealing with prosecutions and enforcement.

Victims of modern slavery are often incredibly vulnerable, and it does require specialist expertise to encourage people who are victims to come forward, because we need their help to put human traffickers and people who are responsible for slavery in jail. An independent antislavery commissioner can assist with a lot of these gaps. They can support enforcement, they can help victims and they can work with the incredible organisations in civil society to help prevent and detect slavery in Australia. The Modern Slavery Bill that's before us is going to help and is very useful, but we believe that, without an independent antislavery commissioner, we're going to have an essential piece of the puzzle missing here, and Labor has made a commitment that in government we will implement an independent antislavery commissioner. If we're not able to get the agreement of the parliament and the various political parties that will represent this issue in the Senate, a future Labor government will make that change. I'll be moving a second reading amendment on behalf of the opposition, calling on the government to establish an office of an independent antislavery commissioner.

Finally, Labor will be moving amendments to this bill to remove forced marriage from the scope of the reporting requirements under this bill. Our current approach to forced marriage is not working. I've said that on the record several times and I'll say it again here. Since the time of the election of the government on the other side of the chamber, we haven't secured a single successful prosecution for a forced marriage offence under the Criminal Code. I referred to pretty regular media reports about the issue of modern slavery; there are also pretty regular media reports about the issue of forced marriage but not a single conviction.

Earlier this year, alongside the deputy Labor leader and the member for Sydney, we announced Labor's policy to overhaul Australia's response to forced marriage, and there are some very obvious problems standing in the path of victims of forced marriage coming forward. We announced that Labor will increase funding for civil society and establish a forced marriage unit to provide a one-stop shop to connect victims to support services, government agencies and assistance for Australians who are under threat of being taken overseas to be married against their will. That is a solution to the problem that we have with this very vulnerable cohort of victims of forced marriage. It is actually quite difficult for them to access support. They're in a very vulnerable situation, and it's often not in the interests of the people around them to help them access support, so we're going to try to help change that.

We are also going to fully remove the cooperation requirement for victims of forced marriage. Today, if a victim of forced marriage wants to get the assistance of the Australian government to escape from that marriage, they need to agree to cooperate with the police investigation. For lots of us in this room, perhaps that doesn't sound like such a big thing, but for victims of forced marriage it is a huge thing. Often people who are a victim of forced marriage have members of their own family who have tried to facilitate the marriage. So we've created a situation under Australian law where, if a young woman, for example, is the victim of a forced marriage, to get the assistance of government to escape from that marriage she has to testify against her own parents. That is not a good outcome for justice and, indeed, it is not leading to justice. That is very clear on the facts. We are going to fully remove the cooperation requirement for victims of forced marriage, agreeing that if a young woman is being forced into a marriage against her will, she deserves the support of the state in an unconditional manner.

The government has recently announced a limited trial to improve the support services that are offered to victims of forced marriage. We are pleased to see that small step forward but we believe there's a lot more that can be done. The reason I'm referring to forced marriage is because the way that this Modern Slavery Bill is constructed brings the definition of forced marriage into the reporting requirements for a modern slavery act. Labor has spoken to stakeholders about this question, and there are different views within the stakeholder community. We are concerned that the inclusion of forced marriage in this bill will have a lot of unintended consequences, and the worst thing we can do for victims of forced marriage is push that problem further from public view. We believe that that would be one of the consequences of including it in a modern slavery act.

If I can explain this clearly, the bill before the parliament is requiring big companies to provide a public report on what they are doing to check for slavery in their supply chains. In practice, if we add forced marriage to that definition, we are creating an opportunity for a company to look into the private lives of the people it employs. Labor doesn't want to create an issue along those lines. It's something that we will monitor, and we will continue to be part of the discussion, but we don't think at this stage that this is something we will want to include in a first draft of the Modern Slavery Bill.

I've spoken about a number of amendments that Labor wants to have considered by the government, by the crossbench and by the Senate. I'm very hopeful that the fruitful discussions that I've had so far with my opposite number will result in a modern slavery act that the Australian parliament can be very proud of. I will leave a detailed discussion on some of those amendments to the consideration in detail stage, but I want to make it clear that there are aspects of this bill that Labor would've done very differently. There's no question about that. I've particularly spoken about the importance of having a penalties regime attached to the act.

I do want to acknowledge on behalf of my party that we see this as a step forward. We're pleased to see that the Australian parliament is united in its view that modern slavery cannot be tolerated. It can't be tolerated because the values of the people we represent do not support it. I'm pleased to see the Australian parliament moving towards a regime that would make it clear that we believe, as a parliament, that Australian companies are responsible for what goes on in their supply chain. They're not criminally responsible, but we do expect them to look. To not know is not an excuse. That is what the Australian parliament is saying when we stand up and support this version of a modern slavery act.

We're pleased to see that the government's draft of this bill includes a requirement that the minister prepare a modern slavery statement for the Commonwealth. That is, for all the money that the government is spending on various things, we're asking the Commonwealth government for the first time to make the type of inquiries into their supply chains that we are asking of big business. That's a very welcome measure, and we support that the government is also being held to account.

As the shadow minister responsible for this area, one of the great privileges of my time in this parliament has been working with the incredible group of advocates and the civil society sector who have been working for so long to see something like this come before the Australian parliament for debate. I want to share the names of some of the people for whom I'm so full of admiration for their hard work and advocacy: Dr Jennifer Burn and her team at Anti Slavery Australia; Dr Mark Zirnsak from the Uniting Church; Heather Moore from the Salvation Army; Carolyn and Fuzz Kitto from STOP THE TRAFFIK; and the incredible Fiona McLeod SC and Morry Bailes from the Law Council of Australia. Andrew Forrest and Chris Evans from the Walk Free Foundation have done huge work on this and have been very involved in the discussion on the other side of the chamber, which has been hugely helpful. I thank the mighty trade union movement, particularly Aira Firdaus, Tim Nelthorpe and the amazing National Union of Workers, who are on the ground fighting worker exploitation every single day, and Andrea Maksimovic from the ACTU and the very hardworking people in that organisation who've been pushing this forward. Of course, I want to acknowledge Christine Carolan and her team at ACRATH. Every member of parliament in this chamber has probably been visited by the incredible women who run this organisation; some of them are Catholic nuns. They are a truly incredible group of people. I absolutely cherish the time that I've spent with them discussing these issues.

To the dedicated stakeholders and many others out there who are fighting worker exploitation: I want to put on record the opposition's absolute thanks for the work that you're doing, and I'm sure I speak on behalf of those on the other side of the chamber when I say that. We simply wouldn't be here today introducing reforms if it weren't for that tireless advocacy and commitment to making the world a better place, and I really do truly believe that.

I want to acknowledge also the work of the member for Dunkley, of Senator Lisa Singh, in the other place, and of many others who have fought very hard for this to progress.

I opened my comments today by talking about the abolition of slavery in the 19th century. I said then that it wouldn't have happened without the group of people who fought over decades—in fact, some organisations tackled this horrible practice over centuries. I wouldn't say we face a challenge of a similar scope, but we do face a challenge that is very large in size and very difficult to tackle. Our work to end slavery in the 21st century is going to require huge cooperation, determination and drive. This is very much the beginning of our work to stop this practice, but I know there are lots of people in this country and on both sides of the chamber who are trying to make big steps forward, and I really commend their efforts. I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House calls on the Government to establish an Office of an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner to help victims of modern slavery and stamp out this sickening crime".

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