Australian government departments are buying products that could be made using slave labour, a thinktank says.
Anti-Slavery Australia, a law and public policy thinktank, says there is “considerable potential” that government agencies in Australia are buying products and services with links to human trafficking or exploitation because ethical procurement guidelines are not up to scratch.
In a submission to a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry, Anti-Slavery Australia said modern forms of slavery including exploited labour may be present in the supply chains of some departments.
Jennifer Burn, the director of Anti-Slavery Australia, said there was a “complete absence of any real scrutiny” of supply chains at either a commonwealth or state level.
In NSW, potential government suppliers are asked whether they conform to relevant legislation including the worst forms of child labour. Agencies are also required to ensure procurement is “fair, ethical, transparent and incorporates probity”.
Other states have similar policies. In Victoria, for example, departments are required to comply with a set of guidelines which cover accountability and probity.
But ethical procurement or employment is not mentioned in the guidelines, and while a supplier code of conduct includes labour law and human rights standards, it does not mention slavery.
The NSW Labor party has also raised concerns over the adequacy of the state’s procurement rules. An inquiry into human trafficking is due to report to the state government this week, and is likely to include recommendations relating to the introduction of an anti-slavery commissioner.
Labor has promised to introduce one regardless of the outcome of the inquiry, if it is returned to government.
Paul Lynch, the shadow attorney general, said Labor wants to “slavery-proof” the state by specifically including anti-slavery provisions in procurement guidelines.
Under a policy adopted by the party’s shadow cabinet, the commissioner would be able to collect and request data, as well as inquire into the implementation of procurement guidelines. The commissioner would also be able to advocate, monitor and assess the effectiveness of government policies.
Lynch said an optimum model would have statutory powers and report independently to parliament. He said more was needed than “a broad ethical statement”.
“At one level the problem is that we don’t know whether there are any question marks over procurement because no one has asked the question,” he said. “No one has investigated, and no one is looking. We give our departments broad ethical obligations but there’s nothing in particular about trafficking and slavery.”
The NSW inquiry is taking place at the same time as a federal committee considers whether to introduce a modern slavery act similar to the one introduced in the UK in 2015.
The UK act require businesses with a turnover of £36m or more to disclose what actions they are taking to eliminate slavery and trafficking from their supply chains and businesses.
But Burn said there were “deficiencies” in the UK scheme. “It’s called a transparency and reporting scheme but really it’s just a reporting mechanism,” she said.
“In the UK they have to do almost nothing – they just say what they’re doing to address risk. The Australian model has expanded that [but] there are questions of what kind of oversight there will be.”