Ben Small (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to call out growing concerns about the presence of forced labour in the supply chains of solar panel manufacturing, particularly in relation to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Recent reports, including those from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the Pulitzer Center, the BBC, the New York Post and Australia's own Walk Free foundation, have highlighted widespread use of coerced labour in the production of polysilicon, an important component in solar panels. Sky News's Paul Murray recently stated that he didn't think anyone in this building would call it out. Well, Paul, to you and to the Forrest constituents who got in touch with me about this: let me confirm that I wrote to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy on 6 August to do exactly that. The United States has already taken steps to restrict the imports of solar materials linked to forced labour, and I understand that the United Kingdom has very recently legislated similar measures with respect to the state owned energy entity GB Energy. I haven't yet received a response from the minister, which indicates to me that simple questions like, 'Is the Australian government currently monitoring the origin of solar panel imports and assessing the risk of forced labour in their supply chains?' are attracting surprisingly difficult answers. If Minister Bowen's green dreams are, in fact, tainted with the blood, sweat and tears of persecuted slaves, the stain upon our country will be an eternal shame.