Modern Slavery Industry Project

The Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) (the Act) requires companies generating more than $100 million in revenue per annum to report on their efforts to address the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.

The Act was introduced to help manage stakeholder expectations around the human rights performance of businesses and to reduce modern slavery from occurring. Prior to joining BGER, a member of our ESG advisory team served as Project Director of the Modern Slavery Industry Project, which included canvassing some 300 stakeholders from the Resources sector in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Africa, about the key issues that underpin modern slavery.

The subject matter experts included Her Excellency Jacqueline Zwambila (former Ambassador of Zimbabwe), Geraldo Valoi (Deputy Director of Mines – Mozambique Ministry of Mineral Resources), and Marius Kloppers (former Chief Executive Officer – BHP), among others.

Modern slavery refers to a range of serious human rights violations, which are also crimes in Australia. They include human trafficking, slavery, servitude, forced marriage, forced labour, debt bondage, the worst forms of child labour, and deceptive recruiting for labour or services.

Relationships between stakeholders in the Resources, Energy, and Oil and Gas sectors are rapidly evolving as they race to decarbonise their operations and improve their overall sustainability performance. Both have added complexity to the supply chains of companies in these sectors, which is translating to new risks in modern slavery.

Image: Her Excellence Jacqueline Zwambila (former Ambassador of Zimbabwe) at the Modern Slavery Industry Forum, Victoria. Copyright 2023.