The Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW Sydney has provided the following submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs on the Modern Slavery Amendment (Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner) Bill 2023.
We welcome the Modern Slavery Amendment (Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner) Bill 2023 (‘the Bill’). The Office of the Anti-Slavery Commissioner (‘ASC Office’) will play a critical role in facilitating the effective implementation of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) (‘MSA). While the MSA was widely hailed as a critical first step by Australia towards tackling modern slavery, four years into its operation with over 8,000 statements filed, our research has found that the legislation has so far failed to transform business practices and has not yet made a tangible difference to the lives of workers in Australia and in the supply chains of Australian businesses.1 Our findings were reinforced by the 2023 independent review of the MSA which acknowledged widespread views that ‘there is no hard evidence that the Modern Slavery Act in its early years has yet caused meaningful change for people living in conditions of modern slavery’.
It is important then that the ASC Office is established with relevant and well-resourced functions to ensure its success. We suggest that the development of the ASC Office can be meaningfully informed by the Paris Principles.3 Although these were developed for National Human Rights Institutions (‘NHRIs’) globally, we see sufficient similarities between the role of the ASC Office and NHRIs. In brief, drawing on the Paris Principles we suggest the ASC Office should have:
- Independence from government, set out in legislation;
- Adequate powers, so that the Office can initiate inquiries and investigations (on its own initiative or upon receipt of a complaint), gather the evidence and documents they need, consult with NGOs and State institutions and publicise their reports, findings, and recommendations;
- Adequate resources, so that the Office has the funding, staffing, infrastructure, and institutional capacity to perform its functions and discharge its responsibilities;
- Cooperative work, recognising that effective human rights work requires collaboration with other State institutions, NGOs, and civil society groups; and
- Responsibility to administer the MSA, including by working collaboratively with government agencies to administer, monitor, and support compliance with the MSA reporting requirements including, but not limited to the provision of guidance and education materials and the administration of, or recommendations as to the administration of, penalties and other administrative action.
Read the full submission here.