Modern slavery is both a serious human rights abuse and an economic issue. Exploitative labour practices can undermine workers’ economic security while also creating unfair conditions for businesses that seek to comply with Australian workplace standards.
FECCA therefore welcomes the Government’s consideration of stronger corporate accountability. The consultation paper recognises that modern slavery risks can occur within complex, multi-tiered supply chains and that corporations may have varying levels of visibility and influence over labour practices.
Australia’s current modern slavery framework criminalises serious forms of exploitation, including those related to slavery, forced labour, and human trafficking. Under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth), large entities with annual consolidated revenue of at least $100 million must report on modern slavery risks and the action being taken to address them. However, this current framework does not impose criminal liability on companies for failing to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains. The proposed reforms intend to shift the framework towards stronger corporate accountability by introducing a failure to prevent offence for large companies that do not take reasonable steps to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains, alongside proposed changes involving Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPA) and civil remedies.
The proposed failure-to-prevent offence provides an opportunity to address this issue by placing greater responsibility on corporations that are best positioned to identify and mitigate risks. However, the design of the offence will be particularly important for temporary migrants and CALD workers. These workers may encounter additional barriers to exercising workplace rights, including language barriers, insecure employment, dependence on employers or labour-hire providers and concerns about the consequences of reporting exploitation.
FECCA notes that while the rights and the remedies afforded to workers for exploitative behaviour must be upheld, it is equally important to ensure that businesses affected by the proposed offences are also treated fairly and reasonably. Consulting the private sector as well as workers, community groups, including those from ethnic backgrounds, will be critical to mitigating any perverse outcomes from the proposed reforms.
This submission addresses how to ensure the proposed model places responsibility on businesses in proportion to their economic power and influence, while ensuring that stronger corporate obligations do not unintentionally result in the exclusion of migrant and CALD workers and CALD-owned businesses. Our submission is aligned with the joint letter response from the Australian Multicultural Women’s Alliance, an initiative of FECCA, and the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights (AMWCHR) and Working with Women Alliance (WwWA). Our recommendations connect corporate accountability with culturally and linguistically appropriate support, remediation and meaningful access to compensation.
