NSW Legislative Council Passes Modern Slavery Bill

“The objects of this Bill are as follows:

1. to combat modern slavery,
2. to provide assistance and support for victims of modern slavery,
3. to provide for an Anti-slavery Commissioner (the Commissioner),
4. to provide for detection and exposure of modern slavery that may have occurred or be occurring or that is likely to occur,
5. to raise community awareness of, and provide for education and training about, modern slavery,
6. to encourage collaborative action to combat modern slavery,
7. to provide for the assessment of the effectiveness and appropriateness of laws prohibiting modern slavery and to improve the implementation and enforcement of such laws,
8. to provide for mandatory reporting of risks of modern slavery occurring in the supply chains of certain corporate bodies,
9. to make forced marriage of a child and certain slavery and slavery-like conduct offences in New South Wales,
10. to further penalise involvement in cybersex trafficking by making it an offence to administer a digital platform for the purpose of child abuse material.”

“I am honoured and humbled today to introduce the Modern Slavery Bill 2018. The bill addresses the findings and recommendations in the report on the inquiry into human trafficking in New South Wales, which was completed last year. The bill has been developed by the New South Wales Parliamentary Working Group on Modern Slavery, a cross-party group of members who came together to develop the bill and to deal with this scourge against innocent people in New South Wales and beyond. The members of the working group included Liberal Party member the Hon. Matthew Mason-Cox, The Nationals member the Hon. Trevor Khan, and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party member the Hon. Robert Brown, and we were given much encouragement by our colleagues and members across parties.

Slavery and human trafficking has been around since the beginning of time. Many good men and women have spent their lives committed to the abolition of slavery. They include Louis X, St Patrick, William Wilberforce and Abraham Lincoln, just to name a few. In that spirit, first and foremost, I welcome those in the gallery who have come here to support this bill. There are too many to mention individually but they are phenomenal in everything they do for this cause. I thank those who made submissions to the inquiry and those who gave evidence at the hearings. In April 2017, I undertook a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association study tour to the United States of America and Canada to investigate how governments, churches, non-government organisations and other groups address and tackle human trafficking and homelessness.”

“First and foremost, the Modern Slavery Bill contains provisions in respect of slavery, slavery-like practices and human trafficking and provides for the appointment and functions of an anti-slavery commissioner as well as some other purposes. The bill comprises five parts. Part 1 deals with preliminary matters. Part 2 covers the appointment of an independent anti‑slavery commissioner and the staff and facilities necessary to enable the commissioner to exercise his or her functions. I will address the pertinent elements of that later in my contribution. Part 3 governs modern slavery supply chains and the requirements of certain organisations in reporting identified risks of modern slavery. Part 4 deals with modern slavery risk orders. Part 5 deals with miscellaneous components of the bill and the introduction of new crimes specific to New South Wales, namely, child forced marriage and cybersex trafficking.”