29th November 2018
The ACTU has said that the Modern Slavery Bill that passed in the Senate last night is a missed opportunity to introduce strong measures that would hold companies accountable and properly fight to eradicate modern slavery.
The Bill fails to penalise companies that refuse to take part in a regime of reporting and compliance, as well as appointing an independent anti-slavery commissioner.
“As it stands this bill doesn’t send a strong enough message to companies – we need fines in order to really be able to say they cannot get away with tolerating the presence of slavery as ‘business as usual’,” says ACTU President Michele O’Neil.
“The ACTU calls for civil penalties and the appointment of an independent anti-slavery commissioner as essentials in holding companies accountable for the presence of slavery in their supply chains.”
As it stands, without fines, there will be no incentive for companies to report what they have done to deal with slavery in their supply chains.