Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

We are blessed to live in a country with a strong and proud industrial relations history. We accept the rights of individuals to receive a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, without a second thought. We accept that a person's toil should be appropriately rewarded irrespective of their gender, race, religion or age. And we accept the right of a person to move freely from one employer to another.

The notion of exploitation of others is repugnant to us and the abuse of forced or slave labour is unfathomable, and against every value we hold dearly in this country.

Sadly however, forced or slave labour is the hellish daily existence endured by millions of people around the world. Men, women, children and the aged, forced to work in the most heinous of conditions with limited or no access to food, water or even basic necessities. Working for up to 22 hours in a day then locked up for a miserly two hours' sleep, day after day after day.

The International Labour Organization Forced Labour Convention, 1930, defines the practice:

… forced or compulsory labour is: all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat or a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily.

It is estimated that between 38 to 46 million people globally are subjected to modern slavery, of which more than 10 million are children. The exploitation occurs in the private economy as well as under ruling government and military regimes.

It would be easy to attribute these atrocities to countries with poor human rights records or third world economies. And for the most part, that is the case for the majority of forced labour activity. However, around 1.5 million people are working in forced labour arrangements in developed economies, including the United States, Canada, European Union, Japan, New Zealand and right here in Australia.

Furthermore, developed countries are often the end point for services and products, especially apparel, produced by forced labour. It is difficult, if not impossible, for consumers to truly determine if their goods are produced by or with materials sourced from forced labour activities. Indeed, many or all of us in this place, are most likely the unwitting owners of some garments that are the end product of forced labour.

Cotton products in particular, are at high risk of originating from or a part of forced labour arrangements through the supply chain. The Uighur region in Xinjiang, China, produces approximately 85 per cent of all Chinese cotton. Much of this cotton enters transactional supply chains, where it is then used in intermediary manufacturers in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Kenya, Ethiopia, China and Mexico. Much of the cotton in the Uighur region is hand picked by people forced to do so, and the textile factories in the region are known to employ forced labour. Citizens who are minoritised are also transferred thousands of kilometres away to inland China to work without choice in the factories in major textile and apparel exporters.

This parliament has expressed strong support for international efforts to suppress forced labour. Senator Patrick introduced the Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Uyghur Forced Labour) Bill 2020 to address the well-documented human rights abuse of hundred of thousands of Uighur people in Xinjiang province in China. The bill was referred to the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, which reported on 17 June this year. The committee endorsed the objectives of the bill without reservation and went on to observe that the state sponsored forced labour to which the Uighur people are subjected by the Chinese dictatorship is a grave human rights violation. It is incumbent on the government to take steps to ensure Australian businesses and Australian consumers are not in any way complicit with these egregious abuses.

The committee took the view that it would be preferable to introduce a global ban on the imported goods to Australia that were produced by forced labour and the committee accordingly recommended that the Customs Act 1901 be amended to prohibit the import of any goods made wholly or in part by forced labour, regardless of geographic origin. The Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Forced Labour) Bill 2021 (No. 2) seeks to implement the committee's recommendations through the amendment to the Customs Act to impose an absolute ban on the importation of goods produced in whole or in part by forced labour. The proposed ban is global in nature and does not specify any geographic right for its application.

I call on every member in this place to help put an end to the injustice of forced labour, to give a voice to the millions of unheard people working against their will and to give consumers the confidence to buy products that have been produced without forced labour or from the products of forced labour. This bill is too important to be subject to the usual politicking of this House. It must not be sent off to committee to be left on the table to expire. We have the opportunity to actively join the international community and make a positive difference to the lives of the most disadvantaged people in the world. If we fail to get this bill through this place, we will fail the millions of people globally that are dependent on countries like Australia to help change their fate. If you value your rights of individual freedoms and oppose the atrocities of forced labour, I ask you and all members of this place to support this bill.

Mr Speaker, on your final day, may I express my enormous gratitude as a member of the crossbench. Thank you for your service to the parliament.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mayo. Is the member for Mayo's motion seconded?

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to second this bill. I reserve my right to speak on the bill. Mr Speaker, I too would like to thank you for your service to this parliament, for your great leadership and for the wisdom and great ethics you've brought to the role. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you so much. The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.