Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to discuss and present later the Stop the Traffik petition from about 2,914 signatures on behalf of the Uniting Church of Australia. The petition seeks to condemn the practice of human trafficking and prevent people continuing to be bought and sold. Human trafficking is the acquisition of people by improper means, such as force or such as fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them.

This petition has been brought to my attention by Dr Mark Zirnsak, Director the Justice and International Mission unit of the Uniting Church of Australia. The petition promotes the need for a consistent approach to compensation for survivors of human trafficking in Australia.

This would be the fulfilment of article 6.6 of the Protocol to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which states:

Each State Party shall ensure that its domestic legal system contains measures that offer victims of trafficking in persons the possibility of obtaining compensation for damage suffered.

In order to be compliant with the international obligations Australia has accepted, it should either create a compensation scheme at the federal level for survivors or ensure survivors of human trafficking can receive compensation under current state systems.

In contemplating this petition, one of the testimonies of someone who is actually on the petition is mentioned and recorded by the project research—one of the people who had been trafficked: 'We were made to feel like animals. Customers were violent. Some of the customers were crazy. They treated us like animals. We were sexually abused, we were drugged, we were hit. Some of us were given drugs so we could work all the time. Some of the women we know have become drug addicts and now they have to keep doing prostitution to pay for drugs.'

Virtually every country in the world is affected by crime such as this, and I would like to point out that on 13 August 2012 the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon. Bob Carr, asked the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade to inquire into and report on slavery, slavery-like conditions and people-trafficking. The committee invites interested persons and organisations to make submissions addressing the terms of reference by Friday, 28 September 2012. The trade of men, women and children through force or coercion is one of the fastest growing criminal activities in the world, and as I understand it the committee wants to examine Australia's efforts to combat the problem. The United Nations estimates that 2.5 million people worldwide are victims of this crime, and 1.2 million of these are children. International efforts to tackle the problem will also be examined. Australia has not escaped this serious form of exploitation—between 2004 and 2011 over 300 investigations and assessments of human trafficking and slavery offences were conducted by the Australian Federal Police. Thirteen convictions resulted. In the time I have left I am seeking to present this petition, which has been through the Petitions Committee.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

The petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House:

In 2005 Australia ratified the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.

Article 6.6 of the Protocol states:

Each State Party shall ensure that its domestic legal system contains measures that offer victims of trafficking in persons the possibility of obtaining compensation for damaged suffered.

However, Australia has failed to provide direct avenues for survivors to pursue compensation.

While Australia has recognised that there have been over 175 victims of human trafficking to Australia since 2004, only a handful have been able to obtain compensation through State Government crimes compensation schemes.

Your petitioners therefore ask the House to:

Fulfil Australia's international obligation through the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children to provide compensation to survivors of human trafficking as victims of a serious crime. This should be done through a legislated Commonwealth compensation scheme for the purpose unless an adequate alternative arrangement can be made.

from 2,914 citizens

Petition received.