Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I could not agree more, Madam Deputy President—including yourself. I rise to contribute to the debate on the Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Forced Labour) Bill 2021. I will say, from the outset, that Labor will be supporting Senator Patrick's bill, and I foreshadow that I will move a second reading amendment in the name of Senator Keneally at the end of my contribution.

In 2018, the Global Slavery Index estimated that over 40 million individuals across the world were trapped in some form of modern slavery. For nearly 25 million people, that was forced labour, most prominently in Eritrea, Burundi and North Korea but occurring in nearly every corner of the globe in some way or another. For context, 25 million people is roughly the population of our nation, yet I'm sure that there are many here in Australia who are not aware of this horror. We often speak of slavery in the past tense, as if it were a crime against humanity that we've thoroughly consigned to the history books—a scourge that climaxed with the Emancipation Proclamation and something that, today, can only be found in books and film—yet it is the reality for many millions of people around the world who live their lives in bondage. For every one of us, there is one of them, living a life of cruelty and despair.

It is not that our abhorrence towards slavery has weakened but, rather, that the problem has evolved in a rapidly developing modern world. The current iteration of forced labour and servitude is now hidden and obscured by the complex supply chains of our global trading system. So, noting the enormity and complexity of this issue, it is vital that countries like Australia show leadership, particularly in our region, in combatting modern slavery and forced labour. Modern slavery is not foreign to us here. It happens in the Asia-Pacific, and it even occurs here in Australia. In 2018, it was estimated that roughly two-thirds of the people trapped in forced labour and slavery lived in the Asia-Pacific region. The same report says that there are roughly 4,300 people in Australia today living in these horrific circumstances. This is an issue that isn't relegated to history or far-flung lands. It happens in our own backyard and in our own community. It is something that the Australian Labor Party has always taken a strong stand against. Labor led the push for an Australian modern slavery act and later moved amendments to the Modern Slavery Bill in 2018 to improve its effectiveness, introduce penalties for noncompliance and establish an independent anti-slavery commission. These amendments were not supported by the Liberal-National government at the time.

In the intervening period, the world has witnessed a growing number of horrifying reports of forced labour and human rights violations. Evidently, we, as a global community, need to do more, and that starts at home. Labor has also taken a strong stance against the exploitation of our airports to smuggle people into the country. Over 130,000 people have been brought to Australia through these loopholes, and many have ended up working in slavery-like conditions in our horticulture sector. These people are being trafficked by organised crime and illegitimate labour hire companies, and many have been subjected to wage theft, abuse and sexual assault, while the go-slow Department of Home Affairs processes their applications. This is a significant problem that has been ignored and denied by those opposite. We welcome this private senator's bill today because we recognise that more must be done to combat modern slavery and we fully appreciate how pervasive the problem has become.

We also thank Senator Patrick for engaging with the committee process and adopting recommendations of the Senate inquiry into this bill. Whilst we support the proposed legislation, we recognise that this bill will only go so far in addressing the problems at hand. The Senate inquiry and key stakeholders have highlighted a number of ways that the bill could be improved to ensure that it is more effective in addressing modern slavery. Firstly, the bill does not address what information or what standard of proof is required to ban a product produced by forced labour. Does the bill require a proven crime beyond reasonable doubt before the government can take action?

It is not clear whether this is the standard of proof required or whether some lesser measure would be used. It was the view of the committee as well as key stakeholders that the standard should be where the evidence reasonably but not conclusively indicates that imports were produced in whole or in part by forced labour. This is also the approach taken by the United States government with the Tariff Act. With this standard, the burden would then be shifted back to importers and the producers of the good to demonstrate the absence of forced labour in their supply chain. Without such a standard, the bill may introduce a ban that is unworkable in the real world.

Secondly, the bill does not outline an open referral mechanism, another feature employed by Washington in their fight against forced labour. An open referral mechanism would allow anyone to petition the Australian Border Force to investigate allegations of forced labour. Further, this open referral mechanism should then necessitate a transparent process by which the reasons for the acceptance or rejection of a petition would be published. This would increase the practicality of the ban and allow for greater transparency and accountability over its implementation.

Thirdly, the bill doesn't provide the Australian Border Force with enough power to investigate in instances where it believes goods produced by forced labour are being imported. Without the ability to issue detention orders for specific goods, companies or regions with a high risk of forced labour, the ABF is significantly hamstrung in the way it can enforce the ban. Without explicitly outlining these powers in the bill, the ABF's ability to investigate and enforce the ban will be hampered.

Fourthly, we must ensure fairness in this system. There should be a process by which importers can challenge a finding or order made by the ABF in the investigation of goods produced by forced labour. It is important that importers who can demonstrate that they have taken every reasonable effort to verify the source and the type of labour used and have provided sufficient evidence that the shipped goods were not produced with forced labour are not unfairly disadvantaged. If they cannot satisfy these requirements, the goods should be seized and detained. This, in turn, would create a commercial imperative for importers to have done their own homework before importing a good. If they can provide their proof, they will be able to secure the swift release of their product.

Finally, the bill would be improved by specifically articulating transparency measures, which should be specifically laid out in the bill, ideally in the way of a publicly available register which outlines the number of investigations, the number of petitions, the number of detention orders and the details of any findings of forced labour. This is what best practice would look like in a bill of this kind. We acknowledge the work of the Senate committee and a number of stakeholders who have engaged with this process to attempt to achieve the most effective and practical ban possible.

Despite what we've outlined above, Labor support any efforts to combat modern slavery. In moving our second reading amendment, we seek to acknowledge the important work of Senator Patrick and we call on the Morrison government to do more than match the effort and resolve from Labor and the crossbench to combat this horrible crime. It's evident what must be done. The Morrison government needs to work with Labor and the crossbench to amend the Modern Slavery Act to introduce penalties for noncompliance and to require mandatory reporting on exposure to specified issues of pressing concern, including Uighur forced labour. Australia is way behind many of our like-minded partners in addressing forced labour and modern slavery. It is vital that we pursue an effective, country-agnostic approach to address these global problems. Without leadership, our region will continue to be exploited by those who profit from the misery of forced labour.

To effectively address the myriad issues presented by modern slavery, the Morrison government needs to do more than amend laws. The government needs to work with consumers and producers alike to boost the transparency of global supply chains. This should include work across the Australian Border Force, the Australian Sanctions Office and AUSTRAC with international partners to increase outreach and information sharing. An independent antislavery commissioner, which Labor has called for, could and should lead this important work.

The Morrison government should also engage in regular dialogues with unions, industry groups and human rights organisations in order to more quickly identify potential issues and address them properly. Additionally, properly funded research into forced labour is vital if we are to identify and combat the issue. Australia should ratify the International Labour Organization's 2014 forced labour protocol. If Australia wants to speak with global credibility on ending forced labour, it must join the 45 other countries, including the UK, New Zealand, Canada, France and Germany, that have ratified the protocol and fully abide by the ILO's forced labour convention.

The Morrison government should consider publishing an annual list of countries, regions, industries and products with a high risk of modern slavery, including forced labour. Companies importing from these places would have the onus placed on them to prove goods are not made with forced labour. It could also consider targeted sanctions on foreign companies, officials and other entities known to be directly profiting from Uighur forced labour and other human rights abuses. The Morrison government should lead by example and conduct a comprehensive review of its procurement procedures and supply chains and disclose this publicly as part of its existing modern slavery report. This should act as a blueprint for state and territory governments to also review their supply chains and ensure they are not importing goods made from forced labour, including in Xinjiang.

None of my comments here should be a shock to anyone. This is the solution that Labor has long called for to properly address this complex issue. Without these changes, we fear that the millions of people who live their lives in forced labour and slavery will never leave it. It is a stain on our humanity that it exists, and we should do everything that we can to stop it, so we move our second reading amendment to this effect and we again reiterate our support for Senator Patrick's bill. We support this legislation and strongly support its intent. Slavery has not been consigned to the history books, but it should be. For the 40 million people around the world living their lives in bondage, including the millions in our region and the thousands in Australia, we owe them all our efforts to outlaw and combat this scourge. Real leadership and resolve is required to make modern slavery a thing of the past, so I commend this bill to the Senate and, at the request of Senator Keneally, I move:

At the end of the motion, add ", and whilst supporting the bill, the Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) Australia has an important role to play in combatting forced labour and modern slavery, particularly in our region,

(ii) the provisions within this bill are a blunt instrument to address this issue, and will be difficult to enforce without additional reforms, and

(iii) the Government has previously opposed efforts in this place to strengthen the Modern Slavery Act 2018; and

(b) calls on the Government to do more to address forced labour and modern slavery, including supporting Labor's amendments to the Modern Slavery Bill 2018 which sought to improve its effectiveness, introduce penalties for non-compliance, increase transparency of global supply chains, and establish an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, which the Government has previously opposed in this place.