Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of the Modern Slavery Amendment (Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner) Bill 2023. Can I say from the outset that I concurred with so of what Senator Scarr said during his contribution to this debate. It is a bipartisan solution, and we need that support to pass this legislation.

In times past, slavery was a simple concept to define: one person or group of people owning another person or group of people and subsequently forcing them to complete unfair labour tasks. Unfortunately, modern slavery is far more complex. In Australia, a person or a group of people are luckily no longer able to legally own another person or group of people. However, forced labour, sexual exploitation, child slavery, forced criminality, domestic servitude, forced marriage, organ harvesting and human trafficking are all elements of the newer concept of modern slavery. All these things are a horrible reality of our society here in Australia. Modern slavery practices are a major violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Australia is a party.

Modern slavery practices are serious crimes that have become more and more prevalent globally and are complex, always evolving and often hidden from the limelight by the perpetrators so they're not caught. We want to change that for the better. We know organised crime is also in this space. In 2019, Australian Institute of Criminology research found that there were between 1,300 and 1,900 victims of human trafficking and slavery in Australia between 2015-16 and 2016-17. Furthermore, this research project of the Australian Institute of Criminology also found that, for every detected case of modern slavery practices being carried out, there were four additional cases that remained undetected.

Australian businesses are also not safe from modern slavery. They are regularly exposed to modern slavery risks, and some goods and services available in our free market here in Australia are likely—very likely—to be tainted by modern slavery practices, whether it be forced labour, forced criminality or the like. While the establishment of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 is a good and progressive addition in combating the scourge of modern slavery, the Albanese Labor government recognises that more can be done, especially that more can be done to address the estimates that modern slavery crimes continue to increase here in Australia and abroad.

For a long time, civil society, businesses, industry and academia have advocated the establishment of an independent commissioner who can raise awareness on the issue of modern slavery here in Australia. These stakeholders have advocated a commissioner who can provide independent information and support to victims and survivors and targeted support to businesses to identify and address modern slavery risks in their supply chain.

In 2017, reports from the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, entitled Hidden in plain sightand An inquiry into human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices respectively, both explored and made recommendations for the Australian modern slavery laws that would establish an independent commissioner, which the Albanese Labor government joins in recommending.

The establishment of this bill builds on the Modern Slavery Act 2018, which I spoke about earlier, and delivers on the Albanese Labor government's tackling modern slavery commitment at the 2022 federal election by way of an amendment to the Modern Slavery Act 2018. This election commitment is all about further strengthening Australia's response to modern slavery and heightening our commitment to upholding the absolute right to freedom from slavery and forced labour and ensuring the right to protect against exploitation, violence and abuse.

Furthermore, the commissioner will be required to consider Australia's international commitments when performing their functions to ensure that implementations of Australia's human rights and trade obligations are appropriately respected and, importantly, upheld. The commissioner will be financially accountable to the Commonwealth and will provide an annual report on the outcomes of their work program, to be tabled in the parliament upon their completion. The commissioner will develop a strategic plan detailing their priorities, which is to be published on their website.

After all, it is about public awareness, and the best way to achieve that is through the commissioner. But I would like to, at this point in my contribution, acknowledge those community organisations and not-for-profits that have been working in our communities with survivors. The work that they have done has helped bring us to where we are now. The contributions to both of those committees that I referred to, from those who made submissions and came before those inquiries to give evidence, has helped shape where we are now. Going through the 2022 federal election, Labor made a commitment and, once again, we're delivering on that commitment.

Furthermore, though, going back to the commissioner, their responsibility would be to uphold Australia's public governance and privacy laws when performing their functions to protect individuals' and Australia's interests. The bill provides that the commissioner will be appointed through a strictly transparent and merit based process and will be appointed on a full-time basis for a term as long as five years. The commissioner can be reappointed once after their term expires. Having a two-term appointment and that process of making sure that we continue to renew the commissioner will help to continue to raise that awareness and to bring focus on the priorities during that period of time. It's always good to have fresh eyes and a fresh commissioner, in my view.

The commissioner will work collaboratively with government agencies to support existing initiatives while progressing new, complementary initiatives to address and combat modern slavery. Wherever there is organised crime involved in activities, as we know only too well, the criminals are always coming up with new strategies and new ways of trying to go undetected and under the radar.

Inquiries and reports can also be forwarded from the commissioner to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs for consideration. Further functions may be considered for the commissioner as necessary following the Albanese Labor government's response to the review. This bill will also support the Albanese Labor government's budget 2023-24 announcement on 9 May last year, which provided that $8 million over four years will be allocated for the establishment of the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner.

Modern slavery is a confronting, disturbing and prevalent issue in our society and our country and beyond our borders. I have provided you with some facts about the logistics and strategy surrounding the establishment of the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner. As has been commented by others in this place, in the speech from Senator Scarr I heard that this is a bipartisan issue. There is nothing partisan about this bill at all. So I feel confident that we will have the support. It's not a bill to try to make political points. It's about putting amendments forward that are going to make this legislation better legislation. It's in all our interests to do that. It's an incredibly important bill, and I urge those around the chamber to support this bill so we can move forward and get the first appointment of the new Anti-Slavery Commissioner.