Commissioners speech to the National Roundtable on Human Trafficking and Slavery

Thank you, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Assistant Minister for Social Services and Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Justine Elliott. I thank you both for your generous remarks and look forward to working with both of you in my new role.

Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge the establishment of the Survivor Advisory Council and its representatives who are here today. Your engagement and contributions today represent a terrific step forward in improving Australia’s response to modern slavery. The ongoing representation and meaningful engagement with those with lived experience will help drive a more effective national response.

The Modern Slavery Act of 2018 has driven an enormous increase in awareness of the issue of modern slavery and brought about increased engagement both among business and the broader community. The ecosystem of organisations and individuals involved in Australia’s response has grown exponentially and given us greater potential to effectively tackle these crimes.

I do, however, want to acknowledge the organisations that have been advocating and providing services in this space for many years when allies were hard to find. I particularly acknowledge Jennifer Burn, Jenny Stanger, Carolyn Kitto, and Mark Zirnsak who are here today and are representative of those whose contributions we all applaud.

It's a real honour to take on the role as Australia’s inaugural Anti-Slavery Commissioner. I'm aware that there are huge expectations of me in the role. It is a daunting challenge but also a great opportunity that I intend to seize with your support.

This week already, the Minister has published his response to the review report of the Modern Slavery Act, we have the National Roundtable today, and the Expert Advisory Group meeting on Wednesday.

Moving forward my focus will be to raise our country’s ambition and our capacity to respond effectively to modern slavery both here and abroad. In the role as Commissioner, I intend to act as a catalyst for change, to bring people together, and to generate more activity and more commitment to the objectives of ending modern slavery. 

The role of Commissioner will be defined over time but I will commence by engaging with stakeholders as I identify priorities for inclusion in the first Strategic Plan for the Office.

While it is only day two on the job, I would like to make some observations about the position we are currently operating in.

Australia has a great record of leadership on modern slavery in our region and internationally. We must value and nourish the bipartisanship that has been evident in improving Australia’s response to modern slavery over the last decade. The fact that the Act was introduced by the Liberal National Party Coalition Government and has been improved by the current Labor Government reflects that bipartisanship.

The Act in 2018 was a significant achievement. The Australian parliament learned from the experience of reporting under the UK Act and, while using it as a model, seriously improved our Act by including several key measures such as the Modern Slavery Register. The Register already has over 11,000 modern slavery statements from entities in the system.

However, it is also true that the Act was a modest start: it is only a reporting regime, it captures only a portion of the Australian business community, and it is modest in its ambitions. 

It is vital that we lift Australia’s ambition and build a consensus among key stakeholders for more targeted and effective responses to modern slavery. The Government, businesses, and civil society are all playing a role; however, we need to bring stronger measures to bear.  While collectively we settled in 2018 for the good over the perfect, six years on we should be demanding much more.  

I note the growing concern that there is too much focus on procedure and compliance with the minimum requirements of the Act, rather than focussing on the real purpose of why we're requiring business to act. That is to ensure that their supply chains are free of modern slavery and if not, to identify and remediate that exploitation. 

Part of my role will be to work with the Government, survivors, those with lived experience, business, members of the National Roundtable, and broader civil society to develop strategies that are more effective in disrupting the use of people in modern slavery in supply chains and supporting those people once identified. 

I acknowledge that we have a lot of work to do. The new National Action Plan must be developed next year. The Government’s response to the McMillan Review sets out a body of work to address the challenges they have prioritised. The Attorney General’s Department is ready to progress those agendas. This will, however, require considerable resources and support.  

I look forward to working with you all. I would say to those who were on the Roundtable with me when I was last here, that I will be just as demanding of progress as I was then.  

I think I was viewed by some like the child in the back of the car continually asking why aren’t we there yet? I assure you I intend to continue in the same vein.  

Why can’t we do more? Why can’t we do better? Why can’t we do it now? And that really will be part of my mantra.

With your support, I will provide leadership to make sure we can answer those questions in the affirmative. We can and will do better urgently – people’s lives and freedom depend on it.

Thank you.