Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Slavery is indeed an evil that, sadly, continues throughout the world right now—in this moment, on this very day. Millions and millions of people around the world, including Australians, are subject to servitude. Slavery is a concept that we think of as a long-ago phenomenon, and we seem somewhat blind to the reality that it didn't occur long ago in Egypt, nor did it finish with the change of legislation about slaves being units of labour in the United States of America. Slavery is with us, and it is amongst us here in our proud democratic nation of Australia in 2024. As I speak that sentence, I am both ashamed and despairing of some of the worst excesses of human nature that would ever think that enslaving another human being could ever be okay.

It's a matter of public knowledge now that I carry a couple of very important things on my person. One of them is a set of rosary beads, a symbol of my Catholic faith in which I find great comfort, and the other is the declaration of human rights. For me these two things are interconnected. People of faith, people of goodwill, people of no faith—we all share a common humanity. That is what is expressed in that declaration. It's human rights for everyone, manifesting itself in very different ways across the faith traditions and in the public practice of people of goodwill, regardless of whatever faith or philosophy they might adhere to.

Today in this debate we are talking about one of the most fundamental human rights. The reality is that when an individual is forced to work for another without payment, enslaved as an item of property for another individual—when one is denied agency—this at every turn is a severe breach of human rights. Fundamental rights, however, cannot be taken for granted. They have to be taught. They have to be cherished by every single person. Sadly, we are at a point where we need to legislate to clarify our actions around what we're going to do in response to this profound scourge.

The right to agency is vital. It aligns with my values and how I see the world—that enslavement should never be and that freedom is a fundamental right that should be practised in full, while being mindful of where it meets the freedoms of others. The belief in the right to agency and having the capacity to live your best life for the period of time that you're here on this planet in the great common family of humanity is part of the reason I became a teacher. This belief in the fundamental human rights of my fellow citizens of the world is another reason I come to this place as a parliamentarian to do this work of legislating where it is necessary, where we seem to have lost something in the broad compact about what common law and common good should look like.

'Modern' is a word with both connotation and denotation. Often we see it as a positive. Thoroughly Modern Millie was one of my favourite films that my mother showed me—great music, great dancing—where the sense of 'modern' was full of hope and promise. Sadly, when we talk about 'modern slavery', it is a term that has severe negative connotations because it covers an enormous range of exploitative practices, including human trafficking, slavery, forced labour, child labour, the removal of human organs and slavery-like practices that have been long documented as practices of commerce in days gone by and things that most of us would only have seen through the media or in film, or read in novels.

I want to acknowledge here the contribution of Senator Linda Reynolds, who referred to the work that she has done, in leading other parliamentarians at the International Parliamentary Union, in identifying the scourge of orphan trafficking and in addressing the very real challenge of the proper management of children in orphanages to be free and to not be enslaved and become units of commerce for those who would exploit them.

I think one of the saddest elements of modern slavery is that it reminds me once again of that very old adage that the love of money is the root of all evil. It's not money in and of itself. We know that charities that benefit from people supporting them do incredibly good work. Money in and of itself and profit in and of itself are not a problem. But gross misuse of the fundamental rights of others for personal profit and gain was always wrong, is always wrong, will always be wrong and must continue to be addressed in all its variations and forms by people of goodwill in parliaments around the globe.

I think part of the problem we face right now is that we live in a global economy and we're consuming so many products, services and goods that we don't know the origins of. Sadly the reality is that some of us will be consuming the products of slavery. I go to the Uighurs in Xinjiang Province in the People's Republic of China. It is now commonly known across the world that there are millions of people enslaved there. I've spoken with advocates for the freedom of those enslaved Uighurs in Xinjiang Province, who've indicated they're trying to use new technologies to identify the kind of weave of fabric so that we can begin to see where these materials are coming from and make informed decisions to ensure that we don't purchase the product of enslaved workforces.

Supply chains in their globalisation can be very powerful and very effective. We cannot undo them, nor should we, but they are opaque. In fact some companies, disreputably and with a love of money trumping any respect for the fundamental dignity of human beings, seek profit and absolutely and deliberately obscure the truth of where and how their products are being made, created and distributed. That's really why the bill that's been put forward is of vital importance. It's essential that Australia rises to the challenge that is before us and that we stand up for the rights to which we are committed.

Senator Reynolds mentioned the importance of the Magnitsky rules and laws around the world, and I want to give particular praise to our former colleague here in this place and my good friend former senator Kimberley Kitching for the great leadership that she showed in advancing our legislative endeavours to ensure that we had the Magnitsky sanctions at our fingertips when they were required. That is a sign of how important the work of individual senators can be, and how we as a parliament collectively and as a team of senators can act not only in the national interest but in the international interest with our fellow minded true believers in democracy.

I also want to echo the observation of Senator Reynolds with regard to the boarding school situation in Tibet—or in the province called Tibet that is now occupied by China. The boarding schools that exist there are absolutely enslaving young people in a way that robs them of their Tibetan heritage, their language and their history for what can only be considered political purposes and creates a potential workforce that I hope is not enslaved in the same way that we have seen amongst the Uighur population in another province of China.

It's very clear to me that, under the leadership of Anthony Albanese and this Labor government, Australia has absolutely returned to the world stage. When we come to the table to participate with other developed democracies to do our work alongside them in the interests of humanity, we have to make sure that our own house is in order. We have to practise what we preach otherwise our words mean nothing.

Sadly, in my work representing this great nation with my parliamentary colleagues from across the political divide, we've seen countries which, right now in these days, are seeking to declare themselves democratic states, and which use the language of democracy but are seeking to destabilise the fundamentals of rules based order that are expressed in the UN declaration of human rights. The geopolitical realities of our time are very, very challenging. Benignly believing that we can assert fundamental human rights and believing that freedom is held by every individual—even those in our own country—is a position I wish we could hold, but it is, sadly, not matching the reality.

The fight against slavery is occurring all around the world with many allies. Among those here in Australia, I want to particularly mention the Minderoo Foundation, which is seeking change. The modern slavery index is an important tool to measure and respond to slavery around the world. The scale of the problem before us is enormous. There were 50 million people estimated to be in modern slavery in 2021. The Australian Catholic Anti-Slavery Network is another organisation that shares the values which I've espoused and which I expect most Australians would share with me. The ACAN indicate that action against modern slavery is a fundamental Catholic social teaching. Pope Francis called modern slavery 'a crime against humanity' because that is what it is. He pledged with other global religious leaders to work to rid the world of this affront to human dignity and human freedom. I certainly support the network's mission to rid slavery from all Catholic supply chains and help to quash the evil of modern slavery.

Patron saint St Josephine Bakhita, born in Darfur, was sold into slavery at a young age. Before ending up in Italy in 1882, she was beaten and abused by her former masters. However, her arrival proved to be a profound change for her circumstances. She was entrusted by the Canossian Sisters, and, for the next 50 years, she enacted God's love through cooking, sewing, embroidery and attending to the door. During her last days, she relived the painful days of her slavery more than once and begged, 'Please loosen the chains; they are heavy.' Surrounded by the sisters, she died on 8 February 1947, and 8 February has been designated as a day of prayer, reflection and action to end the injustice of human trafficking. I'm proud of the Australian government for taking this action. Today I feel my morals, my creed and my identity, as a person of faith and as a citizen of the world who supports the United Nations in its work and the fundamentals embedded in the declaration of human rights, are combined in this bill. I came to the parliament to make change and, ultimately, to be a force for good in this world. This piece of legislation is an example of the way in which our parliament can work harmoniously and powerfully to deliver public benefit for the common good here in our country and in other jurisdictions.