Wins in the fight against modern slavery

Everyone deserves to work in freedom and dignity.   
In December, we made important progress towards stopping Australian companies from profiting from forced labour in their supply chains.  

Our advocacy together with unions, faith groups, and modern slavery advocates successfully led to achieving our goal of Australia’s first national, independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner being appointed.  

The Albanese Government also made its first steps to reforming Australia’s weak modern slavery reporting laws, including agreeing to introduce penalties for large companies which fail to report or publish false information. 

While these wins are an important step forward, big corporations should be required to not just report, but to take action to identify and address their modern slavery risks.  

The government has agreed to consult next year on whether to introduce a ‘due diligence’ requirement that would make this a reality.  

We will continue to push hard for stronger modern slavery laws that drive real change for the 28 million workers trapped in forced labour globally. 

We will keep fighting for a future where every single worker who grows the food we eat and makes the goods we consume, can live and works in freedom and dignity.