Rex Patrick (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill.

Leave granted.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

The purpose of the Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Forced Labour) Bill 2021 is to ban absolutely the importation of goods that are produced in whole or part by forced labour.

The Australian Parliament has expressed strong support for international efforts to suppress modern slavery.

Estimates of the number of slaves across the world range from around 38 million to 46 million and the use of forced labour within global production chains has emerged as a major humanitarian concern.

The issue of modern slavery has also been highlighted by the well documented human rights abuse of hundreds of thousands of Uyghur people in Xinjiang Province in China. The massive and systematic oppression of the Uyghur people by the Chinese Government is undeniable. The exploitation of detained Uyghurs as a captive labour force is clear.

The need to address this pressing problem caused me to introduce the Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Uyghur Forced Labour) Bill 2020 on 8 December 2020.

The purpose of that Bill was to amend the Customs Act 1901 to ban the importation of goods produced or manufactured in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China and goods produced or manufactured in the People's Republic of China through the use of forced labour within the meaning of the Criminal Code.

That Bill was referred to the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee chaired by Senator Abetz with Senator Kitching as Deputy Chair.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Senator Abetz and Senator Kitching and all the other members of the Committee for their work on that inquiry.

I also wish to thank the many people and organisations that made submissions and gave evidence to the inquiry, especially members of the Australian Uyghur community who face harassment from Chinese Government officials here in Australia and grave threats to family members, relatives and friends in Xinjiang.

The Committee reported to the Senate on 17 June 2021.

The Committee endorsed without reservation the objectives of my Bill and went on to observe that:

"The state-sponsored forced labour to which the Uyghur people are being subjected by the Chinese dictatorship is a grave human rights violation. It is incumbent on the government to take steps to ensure that Australian businesses and consumers are not in any way complicit in these egregious abuses."

In considering the Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Uyghur Forced Labour) Bill 2020 in the wider context of modern slavery, the Committee further took the view that it would be preferable to introduce a global ban on the import to Australia of goods produced by forced labour.

The Committee accordingly recommended that "the Customs Act 1901 and/or other relevant legislation be amended to prohibit the import of any goods made wholly or in part with forced labour, regardless of geographic origin" (Recommendation 1).

I have expressed my support for this recommendation, and for the other recommendations relating to government policy, administrative and enforcement matters.

My concern has always been that action be taken quickly to ensure that Australia's condemnation of the Chinese Government's shameful persecution and exploitation of the Uyghur people is made absolutely clear.

The Committee's report is an important step forward, but legislative implementation must not be delayed.

The Chinese Communist Party's oppression of the Uyghur people is an immediate and continuing affront to human decency.

It requires an immediate response from the Australian Parliament, not the usual protracted process of government review that may lead to legislative and administrative action in two or three years.

The need for prompt action is underlined by reports last week that the Victorian state government has turned a blind eye to the use of forced Uyghur labour by the Chinese state-owned company KTK Group, which supplies components for the construction of Victoria's metro railway system.

In these circumstances, the Australian Parliament should move without delay to implement the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee's primary recommendation without delay.

Accordingly, rather than amend the original Bill, I am pleased to introduce a new Bill to implement the Committee's proposed global ban on the importation of goods produced through forced labour.

The Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Forced Labour) Bill 2021 will amend to the Customs Act 1901 to impose an absolute ban on the importation of goods produced in whole or part by forced labour. The proposed ban is global in nature and does not specify any geographic origin for its application.

The use of forced labour is defined in the Bill by reference to the Criminal Code Act 1995.

The importation into Australia of any goods found to have been produced by forced labour will be subject to the penalties that apply to the importation of other goods designated as prohibited imports by regulations made under the Customs Act.

The Bill supports Australia's longstanding commitment to internationally recognised human rights to freedom from slavery and forced labour such as in Article 8 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and related international conventions against slavery and forced labour.

Recognising the need for urgent action to address a grave humanitarian problem, the Bill is introduced with the objective of implementing Recommendation 1 of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee's report without delay.

If Australia is to be true to the democratic values we hold, we need to leave the Chinese Government in no doubt that its conduct is unconscionable and unacceptable.

This Bill will achieve that objective through the imposition of an absolute prohibition on the importation of goods produced by forced labour, of which, as the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee noted, cotton sourced from Xinjiang is the first, obvious target for enforcement attention.

It would be a grave failure on the part of the Australian Parliament if we do not call out and take action to limit the massive abuses of human rights by the Chinese Communist regime.

I commend this Bill to the Senate.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.