The Australian Border Force (ABF) is pleased to advise that the first tranche of 120 modern slavery statements (statements) submitted to the ABF’s Online Register under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (the Act) have now been published. A media release from the Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs, the Hon Jason Wood MP, announcing the publication of these statements is available here.
The publication of these first statements marks a new era of business transparency and is a vital step forward for Australia’s efforts to eradicate modern slavery in our supply chains. These statements have been submitted before the legislative deadline for reporting, which varies from 31 December 2020 to 30 June 2021 depending on the financial year of the reporting entity.
The ABF is closely monitoring the quality of statements and has released two additional guidance notes to highlight good practice reporting trends and common reporting errors and provide additional clarity around describing consultation processes in statements.
The ABF is committed to supporting entities to comply with the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 and will look to publish additional guidance notes to address issues that would benefit from additional clarity as they become apparent. These guidance notes are intended to complement a range of existing tools and materials available in the resource section of the Online Register.
Members of the National Roundtable on Human Trafficking and Slavery and the Modern Slavery Expert Advisory Group have made important contributions to the implementation of the Act. Liana Allan of Migration Alliance is a member of the Modern Slavery Expert Advisory Group. Ms Allan's focus is on combating modern slavery in the area of temporary migration (sponsored temporary residents).