Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment and Water (Senate)) Share this | Hansard source

In rising to speak to the Modern Slavery Bill 2018 and the committee stages of it, I want to note what a big step forward we are taking as a country in addressing modern slavery, not only in Australia but very much in our global supply chains. We often think of slavery as something of the past and, for most people in Australia, the transatlantic slave trade will come to mind; however, we have our own history of slavery in Australia, including in our convict times and with our First Nations people. We consider slavery as a relic of a much less enlightened time, but, indeed, we have more slaves in the world now than we have ever had in history. Some 48.5 million people are living in slavery-like conditions. They exist in a wide variety of private sector activities such as manufacturing, construction and agriculture.

In considering the bill before us today and the amendments that will be moved by the opposition and others, it's important to consider that this bill needs to be the best it possibly can be. We have in Australia a strong rule of law and we should expect that it prevents horrific exploitation of workers, but, sadly, the opposite is true. We live in an interconnected globalised society. We have everyday items that are sold and produced by businesses operating in Australia that can be, and have been seen to be, tainted by slavery and complex supply chains that increase the chance that slavery has been used to produce the goods that Australians use every day.

Despite the best efforts of Australians, it can be very difficult to determine whether slavery has been used to produce certain goods in our supply chain as well as the clandestine nature of the slave trade. In our own region, we know that two-thirds of people who are known globally to be trapped in slavery are in the Asia-Pacific region. This is a region we're intrinsically linked with. Not only that; it is estimated that some 4,500 people in Australia are trapped in slavery-like conditions, and we have seen recent examples of that. While it's obviously illegal, we need to find and stamp out this behaviour and we need to find the evidence of it. The exploitative situation that people find themselves in when they are in slavery-like conditions means people can be very difficult to find. It's multiple abuses of power that cause people to be made vulnerable in this way.

Labor have championed the Modern Slavery Bill, but we would also like to see strengthening of this policy. We'd like, for example, to see companies earning over $100 million required to submit annual reports outlining their actions to address modern slavery, rather than the lack of transparency around that currently. It needs to be public so that we know which organisations and companies have an obligation.

Senator Reynolds has used the committee report of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee to good effect in addressing some of these issues. It was a pleasure to work with Senator Macdonald in prosecuting some of these issues, and it's good to see those issues responded to. From the opposition's point of view, though, they don't go far enough. For example, we see that the Modern Slavery Business Engagement Unit will be established within the Department of Home Affairs—and the government responded to our committee recommendations by beefing that up somewhat—but the Labor Party had wanted to see, and is still committed to, an independent antislavery commissioner.

We want to be able to see independent oversight of things like the public list of companies, in order to ensure that there's transparency and accountability. We want the public to know what companies are doing to help stamp out slavery in their supply chains, and we believe that citizens should be actively involved in being able to exert pressure on companies that fail to meet these expectations. The Australian public have no appetite for slavery and want to see support for companies that take measures to ensure an ethical supply chain. This is about transparency, and it is also about the Australian government giving companies a platform so that we can look at the supply chain and ensure transparency. That would give consumers a choice in Australia.

We very much support this bill and commend the government for moving to address this issue, but we do wish that it had gone further, and we want to express our concerns with some of the elements of the proposed bill. We are concerned about the lack of penalties—that there is no incentive for companies to actually comply, short of public scrutiny. We have been through the sentiments of the opt-in system, but this bill does little to enforce compliance. We would propose penalties for noncompliance, civil penalties for failing to report within an immediate start date and a penalty provision for submitting an inadequate report.

We're not going to pursue amendments, even though we will put them. We know that, while many stakeholders would like to see amendments succeed to the end that I've expressed, it's been sad that the government hasn't been able to accept that these things should be in the bill, which has left us in the situation where, unfortunately, the optimum situation in order to not threaten the bill is to ensure that it passes without amendment. I think that's a shame. I think that's a big shame. If you were to play up the stakes on these things and the government were to say, 'Well, if you pass this amendment then we have to reject the bill,' that would be a great shame, because there was overwhelming support from stakeholders for some of these changes. Nevertheless, it is important that this legislation does progress and will be seen to make a real difference in addressing slavery in the global supply chain as well as here in Australia.

So, we want to see compliance and we want to see enforcement. We do see issues with the Anti-Slavery Business Engagement Unit. The intent is admirable, but we don't want to see a unit that's buried inside the department and is focused on assisting businesses instead of focused on victims. We don't think this is sufficient for tackling the issues of slavery in Australia or globally. That is why we supported an independent slavery commissioner and the idea that setting up a commissioner should be seen as a way of bringing about real and further change in this area. We want to see a commissioner who can work with the victims of slavery, receive inquiries and complaints, work with businesses to develop best practices to protect their supply chains and work with civil society to help prevent and detect slavery. This is a lot more than just a business engagement unit.

Finally, we think it's important to remove forced marriage from the reporting requirements and, instead, match Labor's forced-marriage policy. We have a comprehensive plan and approach to tackling the issue of forced marriage, and we don't think this has a place within the Modern Slavery Bill. It's a very serious issue that must be addressed, but it has different elements that also have much in common with domestic violence and other forms of forced servitude in Australia, not just slavery. Other concerns with this bill have been raised by community groups, business leaders and members of the public, including the need to lower the threshold for companies from $100 million down to $50 million in line with legislation in the UK and New South Wales, and also ideas have been put forward about the National Compensation Scheme to assist victims of trafficking and human slavery.

While all these things that I've raised are important, the Labor Party believes that the current bill is a very important step forward. We would like to see it amended, but we appreciate the fact that we are, frankly, wedged. It is high time we saw this legislation passed and done so that the nation can get on with implementing these reforms. I was pleased to see a commitment to review these provisions, and that is in the legislation. That is an important outcome from the work we did as a Senate committee. If the Labor Party doesn't immediately come to government after the next election, whereby we can implement these things ourselves, the review process allows us to ensure that, in time, the issues that I've outlined in my remarks this evening are indeed addressed.

Slavery is an absolutely horrendous act that has no place in modern life, and the Labor Party is committed to stamping it out in this country and overseas. We support the strong premise of this bill but call on the government to support the amendments we have proposed. I'm saddened that we seem to have been in a place where amendments won't get support simply because that would jeopardise the progress of the bill. Nevertheless, I commend the bill to the Senate.