Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The government does not support these amendments. I'd like to explain why. We don't believe that the bill should be amended to remove forced marriage from the definition of modern slavery. The government and I as the minister have carefully considered this issue in consultation with over 100 expert business and civil society stakeholders. Their feedback has overwhelmingly supported including forced marriage. This is because some entities may directly contribute to forced marriage through their business activities. For example, a mining company may report on forced marriage risks because it runs remote overseas accommodation camps for workers who are forcibly marrying local women. The bill will also apply to religious entities. These entities may choose to include information in their statements about their actions to ensure that forced marriages do not occur as part of their services.

Importantly, this bill does not require entities to investigate or assess the private activities of their employees. Entities only need to report on forced marriage risks where they could directly contribute to this crime through their own business activities. Our approach to forced marriage is consistent with the way we will require entities to report on all other modern slavery risks linked to their business activities. For example, members have highlighted the vulnerability of private domestic workers to modern slavery. Under this bill, we will expect companies that provide private domestic workers for their overseas employees to report on what they are doing to ensure these workers are not exploited.

Our approach is also consistent with the Senate committee report on the bill. The Senate committee did not recommend any changes to the current definition of modern slavery in the bill. It's for these reasons that the government will not be supporting these amendments.