New collaboration resources to help businesses combat modern slavery

The Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Chris Evans, has launched a suite of practical resources to help businesses work together to address modern slavery. Many of the most serious risks to workers sit in supply chains shared by businesses and are hard to address effectively when companies are acting alone.

The resources come as the Australian Government moves to strengthen Australia's modern slavery laws, including a proposed new offence for companies that fail to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains. As expectations on business rise, businesses need practical, shared ways to act on risks they hold in common.

"Too many workers remain vulnerable to exploitation in the same supply chains relied upon by multiple businesses. Yet companies are often trying to tackle the same risks separately, with limited leverage and limited impact," said the Commissioner.

"When businesses work together, they can use their collective influence to drive better labour practices, strengthen protections for workers, and support effective remedy when harm occurs. That is far more likely to improve outcomes than a series of disconnected actions."

Acting separately can also create unnecessary burdens for suppliers. Suppliers often face repeated assessments from customers that can consume significant resources without improving outcomes for workers. More coordinated approaches can reduce duplication and allow businesses and suppliers to focus their efforts on preventing and addressing harm.

The resources include a guide to effective collaboration, a practical toolkit for establishing and joining initiatives, case studies from across sectors, and a directory of collaborative initiatives in Australia and internationally. They build on the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner's Office's work with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to update its Sustainability Collaboration Guidance in December 2025, which added new modern slavery examples to give businesses greater confidence about collaborating to address modern slavery risks while complying with competition law.

Developed through consultation with more than 50 stakeholders from business, civil society and the legal profession, they are intended to help businesses of all sizes, not only those with dedicated human rights teams.

"Modern slavery is a shared problem, and it needs a shared solution. These resources are about making it easier for businesses to work together. The goal is not simply to make due diligence more efficient. The goal is for businesses to be more effective in preventing exploitation and improving outcomes for workers," said the Commissioner.

The resources are available on the Office's Business Collaboration Hub