Activism
Workplace conditions

No Penalty, No Progress: Urge Australia to make big business take action ... forced labor that brings us the garments, foods, electronics and other goods we enjoy.

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

No Penalty, No Progress: Urge Australia to make big business take action We know all too well that many workers in Asia endure forced labor to bring us the garments, foods, electronics and other goods we enjoy. The good news is Australia is taking steps towards creating new modern slavery laws that could improve protections for vulnerable workers worldwide and we need your help to make it happen. Though a national law, its reach — like the supply chains of many companies — will go far beyond Australia’s borders and has the opportunity to improve the lives of people in forced labor. This is especially true in the Asia Pacific region, where nearly half of all Australia’s goods come from, and where an estimated 30 million people are living in slavery.1 How could this new law impact modern slavery globally? If Australia proposes a strong and robust Modern Slavery Act that sets new global standards in protecting victims and holding businesses accountable, other nations will have a higher bar to follow — resulting in better protections for victims and survivors both regionally and all over the world. We must call on Australia to leverage its buying power and improve the lives of vulnerable workers by proposing a strong modern slavery law. We campaigned alongside politicians, nonprofit organizations, faith leaders and anti-slavery activists in 2014 to ensure the UK created a Modern Slavery Act that included company reporting.2 We won then and we can do it again! Sadly, the UK law does not include government purchases or make companies take action to fix problems, nor does it penalize companies that don’t comply. Australia is looking to model its law after the UK, which risks it being weak, and we don’t want this to be a missed opportunity to help protect more victims and abolish modern slavery. Join us in calling on Australia to be a global and regional leader in the fight against modern slavery. Notes: http://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/trade-investment/australias-trade-in-goods-and-services/Pages/australias-trade-in-goods-and-services-2016.aspx ↩ https://www.freedomunited.org/our-impact/transparency-supply-chains-england-wales/ ↩