James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

For similar reasons to those that the minister outlined, the opposition will not be supporting these amendments. But I do want to take the opportunity to recognise the very genuine sincerity which with the Greens have brought this issue forward and agree with them that this is a serious issue that must be addressed.

We are proud of the progress that we made when we were in government in introducing the modern slavery legislation, but I would be the first to acknowledge that it has not solved the problem and that more work is necessary. Equally, I have met with some of the groups that Senator Steele-John outlined in his speech on the amendment, including the Tibetan groups today and Uighur communities and others previously. They are absolutely right to continue to press us to do more to tackle this issue, because it is a shocking scourge and a moral stain. All Western governments should come together to address it in a way that can be effective and proportionate.