Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I want to thank the member for Hughes for his leadership of the committee and also for the words that he has spoken today. We get a lot of feedback in this parliament about some of the behaviour around the place and some of the yelling and screaming that goes on in Question Time, but what a lot of people at home and those up in the gallery probably don't see a lot of is the quite collaborative work that happens in the Parliamentary committee process. I'm very lucky to have recently joined the committee that's delivering the report today, though I only did so at the very end of the process, but I am able to provide a few comments, on behalf of those of us who sit on this side of the chamber, on the issues that were raised in this report into human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices. It's a very important issue to bring to light through processes like this one, because I think many Australians are of the view that slavery is something that we left behind a long time ago. To the extent that it exists, people probably feel that it's very, very remote from their lives, but it's actually not. The evidence that was taken in this inquiry showed quite clearly that slavery is much closer to us than most people realise. Indeed, there are some 4,300 people right here in Australia who are literally enslaved in some fashion or another.

When we look out to the world more broadly, 40 million people today are trapped in slavery. That's more slaves than there have ever been before in human history. So I think it's pretty clear that it's imperative that countries like Australia step up and do what we can to try to make this problem smaller and to abolish it altogether.

The other thing that makes this relevant to our lives, as Australians, is that the lives of a lot of people who are in slavery and the lives that we lead in this country are actually intertwined, because what we know is that a lot of people who are enslaved around the world are working in the supply chains of products and services that you and I use every day. Now, it should not be the case that an Australian can go into a retailer, a supermarket, in this country and pick up a product and not be able to guarantee that no-one has existed in slavery in the supply chain of that product, and yet we cannot do that. In fact, we know that this is not the case. So I think the moral obligation that we have as a country to stop this horrific practice is absolutely clear.

The report that has been tabled today looked at a whole range of different issues, and I'm very proud of the role that Labor has played in this debate over the previous years. In fact, some of the provisions that exist in our Crimes Act today to outlaw slavery in Australia were pioneered by the previous Attorney-General, the member for Isaacs, Mark Dreyfus, who happens to be here with us in the chamber today. This is a person who can be very proud of the work that has been done to make sure that we have really tough, strong laws in Australia. But the report points out some things that we might be able to do even better, and we're looking forward to seeing those go forward.

The member for Hughes talked, in his remarks, about the idea of Australia having a modern slavery act, and I do want to clarify some things that he noted. I want to make this really clear: under a Labor government we would like to see a modern slavery act enacted in Australia. That is Labor policy. That would mean that companies that are operating in this country, protected by our laws and using the incredible wealth of the citizens of this country, must step up and do what they can to ensure that there is no slavery in their supply chains. It's not red tape, because it's not red tape when we're talking about, literally, the enslavement of other human beings. This is one of the most horrendous crimes that can be committed. All we are saying is that big companies around this country should have some handle on what is going on in their supply chains.

I respect the member for Hughes a great deal, but I have to note that some of what he described about a modern slavery act was incorrect. It does not mean that every company operating in this country has to know what's going on in the supplier of the supplier of the supplier. All we are asking is that companies look and take precautions. I think that is a very fair ask, especially in the instance we are talking about, which is a depraved act. It is something which—and I think everyone in this chamber shares this view—should be stamped out. We should be doing everything we can to abolish this practice.

The modern slavery act is but one piece of the puzzle here. The report makes it clear that there is a lot more that we need to do in this space. Some of the things that the report talked about were, for example, proper funding for the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking and Slavery. The report recommended increased numbers of Australian Federal Police officers with specialised training in the Crimes Act and how to identify those provisions when they see them on the ground.

I do want to talk about one of the biggest holes, if you like, in the way that we are managing slavery in this country at the moment. We have mentioned that we have some really good laws in our Crimes Act, and some of those were executed by Labor over its previous life in government. But we see very poor episodes of enforcement and conviction under those laws. There is no point in us having terrific statutes and talking, as we do at length, in this parliament about the meaning of those statutes if on the ground they are not being implemented and not being enforced. That is unfortunately what we see when we have this discussion about slavery. What we know is that between 2011 and 2016, 604 human trafficking and slavery investigations and referrals were made to the relevant authorities, and seven resulted in a conviction. Now, that is just not good enough. We know there are thousands of people in this country who are enslaved and there are hundreds who are being referred to the relevant authorities, and yet seven convictions were recorded over a five-year period. That is not good enough. The report makes that clear. I want us to use this as the ignition for a bipartisan conversation about how we can do this better because I think it's very clear that we can.

One of the other recommendations that was made is for the establishment of an independent anti-slavery commissioner. Again, this is Labor policy. We believe it is urgent that someone be appointed to oversee what is happening in this area. It is an area where there is a lot of policy being discussed and debated, but we are not seeing much oversight as to how effective that policy is on the ground. This is also a person who would advocate for Australia's interests overseas. We do not want a modern slavery act in Australia to put Australian businesses at risk—absolutely not. We want to lead this. We want to see this happening right across the globe, and having an Australian anti-slavery commissioner would ensure that we are represented at the relevant international forums and represented here in Australia—having a strong voice, pointing out where we can make improvements in the law and working with the very active non-profits who are working with people who have been victims of slavery in Australia.

I am very pleased to see that there is a lot of support for fighting this horrendous crime. We should always call it what it is: a crime. This is clearly against the law in Australia, but there is so much more that we need to do. I want to see this parliament use the report that has been tabled today to join together all the different political parties in the fight against this horrible act.

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