Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

First of all, I want to say to Senator Scarr in particular that I know his deep interest, and that of the other members of the committee, in the work that's been done. A lot of consideration has been put into deliberating on this bill.

I rise to speak on the Modern Slavery Amendment (Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner) Bill 2023. And of course, slavery is a horror that still exists today. It did not end with the abolition movement in the 19th century. In 2019, the Australian Institute of Criminology found there were between 1,300 and 1,900 victims of slavery in Australia—although, for every victim detected, there are around four undetected victims. Globally, as many as 45 million people are today subjected to modern slavery. Some are forced to work in the supply chains for products we use every day.

Modern slavery is a serious issue that, for far too long, has not had a suitably serious response. Labor has called for a tough modern slavery act since 2017. When the Turnbull government took up our policy and introduced the Modern Slavery Act a year later, it was watered down to let businesses profiting from slavery off the hook. The then shadow Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, said in 2018 that there was one large problem with the Turnbull government's proposed bill: the requirements were not enforced in any way; companies were free to completely ignore the statutory requirements and would face no penalty. In sum, the act is a completely toothless law. Now this view is shared broadly across expert groups focused on anti-slavery efforts and workers' rights.

The act required that a review be undertaken three years after the commencement. The review, led by Professor John McMillan, was completed last year. The Human Rights Law Centre, in its submission to that review, said:

… while the MSA has led to increased awareness, policies, procedures and internal training on modern slavery over the past three years, the legislation does not currently appear to be driving a 'race to the top' to address modern slavery as it was intended to do.

Compliance with the mandatory—

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