Procurement officers across the Australian Public Service will soon be required to report any goods and services purchased for the Commonwealth that might involve modern slavery anywhere in the production cycle.
Under new laws announced by Assistant Minister for Home Affairs, Alex Hawke, the Commonwealth is to publish an annual statement covering possible modern slavery risks in Commonwealth procurement.
“In a world first, the Australian Government will lead by example,” Mr Hawke said.
He said a Modern Slavery Business Engagement Unit would be established in the Department of Home Affairs to support the “over 3,000 large companies and other entities” which will be required to publish the statements.
“Large businesses will have to identify modern slavery risks in their supply chains and detail what steps they have taken, and will take, to address these risks,” Mr Hawke said.
He said the new laws would enable Government, business, consumers and civil society to work together to eliminate modern slavery in supply chains and would include foreign entities carrying on a business in Australia.
“Commonwealth corporations and Commonwealth companies will publish separate Modern Slavery Statements if they meet the revenue threshold,” Mr Hawke said.
The threshold will be an annual consolidated revenue of $100 million.
The Assistant Minister said a comprehensive national consultation process had already been conducted to develop the reporting requirement, including 16 consultation roundtables with over 170 participants, 99 written submissions and over 50 direct meetings with key stakeholders.
“The United Nations estimates that there are 25 million victims of forced labour exploited in global supply chains, including in the agriculture, manufacturing and construction industries,” Mr Hawke said.
He said detailed guidance would be developed in consultation with stakeholders before the Modern Slavery Reporting Requirement came into force.
He said slavery practices included trafficking in persons, servitude, forced labour, forced marriage as well as slavery.
