By Robin Mellon, CEO Better Sydney
After three years of reporting, the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act 2018 is undergoing a review. Have you been involved in assessing and addressing modern slavery risks across operations and supply chains? Now is the time to voice your views on issues including:
- Should there be penalties for non-compliance with the Act? (I’ve heard convincing arguments for and against)
- Should the threshold for reporting entities, currently at $100million annual consolidated revenue, be lowered? (Many are saying yes, but not quite yet)
- Does Australia need an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, providing advice and support to business as they implement responses? (I’ve yet to hear anyone reject this realistically)
- Should the Act require annual submission of modern slavery statements? (Although annual submissions take time and effort, the last few years have shown us how fast supply chains can change)
- Are current reporting criteria appropriate or are clarifications needed? (Mostly right, but clarity is needed around assessing the effectiveness of actions)
- Can the Modern Slavery Register be improved? (It’s obviously being used, with already over 1.6million searches by clients, investors, suppliers and peers, but needs upgrades to increase functionality).
You don’t have to answer every question – just respond to the issues you find most important. Discover more, and complete the online survey or provide your written submission by 22 November 2022 at https://consultations.ag.gov.au/crime/modern-slavery-act-review/