How should Australia combat modern slavery? (Video) - Human Rights

On 16 August 2017, the Federal Minister for Justice, The Hon. Michael Keenan MP, announced a consultation process on the Government's commitment to introduce legislation making it a requirement for large businesses to report annually on their actions to end modern slavery.

46 million people are estimated to be living in slavery across the globe in an illegal trade worth $150 billion.

Now that the Federal Government has announced that anti-slavery laws are imminent, what can we learn from similar legislation in the UK?

Corrs Consultant Professor Anthony Forsyth talks to global human rights leader Kate Kennedy, who says business leaders have a huge role to play in Australia.

The Government is seeking submissions by Friday, 20 October 2017 on its Modern Slavery in Supply Chains Reporting Requirement - Public Consultation Paper and Regulation Impact Statement.

Conversation between:

Professor Anthony Forsyth – Consultant, Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Kate Kennedy – Managing Director, North America - Freedom Fund

AF: I'm Anthony Forsyth, Consultant with Corrs Chambers Westgarth and I am delighted to be talking today with Kate Kennedy, Global Human Rights Leader. So what does modern slavery look like Kate for an individual who might be experiencing it?

KK: There's lots of definitions of modern slavery or human trafficking but at its core you have people who are trapped, can't leave and don't get paid and have been coerced into that situation. So for an individual that may be a young man who has left Burma to go work in the fishing industry in Thailand because he has come from a desperately poor environment. He goes to see a broker in his village and that broker makes an arrangement for him to go over to Thailand to work on a fishing factory or fishing boat. He guarantees that he will give his first few months' wages and by the time he gets there the average weight of debt is $700 per individual. Now when you are earning $250 per month you are not going to pay that off in a couple of years. So you are in debt, you are in a form of debt, bonded labour. So it really resembles that in many places in the world.

AF: So in 2015 the UK introduced modern slavery legislation. What are you seeing in terms of other countries responding in that way?

KK: The UK Act is the gold standard now and we currently see 18 governments around the world looking very closely at what the UK government has done. In its first year 700 companies reported, pretty patchy reporting, but we are hoping and certainly the government is hoping that reporting is going to become more robust as it goes on and other countries are going to duplicate that like Australia.

AF: So how can Australian corporations get ahead of the game and really be addressing these issues?

KK: I think companies need to look what their audiences want from them and a number of their audiences are going to be already operating in the US and UK so they are already going to be reporting. So they are going to come and operate in countries like Australia and then need to duplicate that or at the very least have consistent reporting. Their staff are going to be increasingly focused on what the moral obligation is, they don't want to work for a company that is making children pick the cotton, the t-shirts they are selling so they have got a staff compulsion there. There is also going to be, and we are seeing this around the world, that there is already strategic litigation happening around the world targeting companies that are not following suit around basic standards around forced and child labour. I also think that regulatory bodies whether they are informal or formal are also increasingly looking at it. Stock exchanges we are seeing that at the moment in the US are increasingly aware and investors around the Australian inquiry there was a coalition representing two trillion dollars' worth of investments that put in our submission to that inquiry. In the US right now there is another coalition representing five trillion dollars that is also putting pressure on different regulatory environments to see reform. So there is another key audience for companies.

AF: Thanks very much Kate, it has been great to get your perspective and some really informative insights on what is happening in this area globally.

KK: And fantastic for the interest. Thank you.

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