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

This morning in the other place, my colleague from South Australia the member for Mayo, Rebekha Sharkie, introduced a Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Forced Labour) Bill 2021. Now, the name might sound very familiar to people because, in actual fact, on 23 August this year, the Senate dealt with a bill of exactly the same name. The bill was designed to prohibit the use of slave labour by banning any product that came to Australia that used slave labour, either in full or in part, from being allowed to enter this country. The Senate voted in favour of this bill, but the bill has languished in the House.

We don't want to have goods coming to Australia that are made using slave labour, and there are three reasons we don't want that. The first is that it incentivises slave labour. This causes misery in other countries for people who are forced to do jobs and are not paid in any way to do these jobs. The second is that Australia needs to stand tall on the international stage in standing up and saying: 'Slave labour is not okay.' The third is that slave labour carried out overseas hurts Australian businesses. Australian businesses have no way of competing with any product that comes in from overseas that basically is made without any labour costs.

This abhorrent trade helps no-one. And yet we find the Morrison government unable to support this bill. Ms Sharkie has put the bill to the House of Representatives, and hopefully it will find some government members who will cross the floor and support it.