Recommendations to strengthen Australia's modern slavery laws
The Office of the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner has published an initial position paper setting out recommendations to strengthen Australia’s modern slavery laws through the introduction of a:
- mandatory risk-based modern slavery due diligence obligation for reporting entities under the Act
- mechanism for the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner to declare that a product, service, or industry carries a high risk of modern slavery, and require entities to have regard to declarations in their due diligence and reporting obligations under the Act.
The paper sets out the Commissioner’s views on why these two reforms are needed to more effectively combat modern slavery in the operations and supply chains of large Australian entities, and makes preliminary recommendations about their design.
The purpose of the initial position paper is to help inform stakeholders' consideration of the proposed reforms and the Australian Government's targeted consultations on these topics. The Commissioner welcomes discussion and feedback on the paper, and notes that the views and recommendations set out in the paper may evolve after considering stakeholder feedback.
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