Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

That is a very good question, Senator Babet, one about which I am deeply concerned, as is everyone on this side. That is why we went to the last election with a position to strengthen the Modern Slavery Act and regulation within our economy, because whether it's from Xinjiang, as the senator has referenced, or elsewhere in the world, you know from the work that Walk Free and others have done that forced labour, which we regard in our heads as something of the past, is something of the present. We should do what those opposite failed to do in government—in fact, they voted against provisions to strengthen the Modern Slavery Act here in Australia. We should be clear about ensuring that we require companies to be far more careful in assuring their supply chains and that we do not allow our purchases unknowingly to condone forced labour anywhere in the world.