Last week, the Office of the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner released its strategic plan for 2025-2028, mapping out a vision to strengthen the nation’s impact in addressing all forms of modern slavery.
The Building Australia’s Ambition and Impact: Strengthening the Response to Modern Slavery Plan was developed earlier this year and involved consultation with more than 250 stakeholders, including 34 modern slavery survivors, advocates, industry leaders, government and civil society organisations.
It focuses on four key priority areas, which include transforming systems to centre survivors and people with lived experience, strengthening law and policy, driving business and government towards better due diligence, and improving access to justice and remedy.
Each priority is accompanied by a corresponding objective, set of initiatives and intended outcomes and impact.
Anti-Slavery Commissioner Chris Evans said that while Australia has made considerable progress when it comes to modern slavery, more needs to be done.
“Australia has a strong record in tackling modern slavery, both domestically and internationally, but our consultations established clearly that more needs to be done, and that some things need to be done differently,” he said.
“Building Australia’s ambition and impact means committing to actions that will deliver tangible results for impacted people, supporting them to live their lives in freedom and dignity.
“This Plan guides how the Office will act as an enabler and catalyst for improvement within Australia’s broader response, helping to prevent exploitation, improve detection and expand access to justice and remedy.”
Over 80 businesses contributed to the development of the Plan, expressing enthusiasm and commitment while discussing the challenges they face, including the complexity of identifying modern slavery at lower supply chain tiers.
Legal impediments to collaboration and disclosure were also raised, alongside limited understanding of effective remediation practices and difficulties in measuring the impact of their actions.
To advance this priority and support entities in taking effective action to identify and address risks of modern slavery within their operations and supply chains, the Office has put forward four specific initiatives.
These include building business commitment to effective due diligence in supply chains, promoting better regulatory support for business, advocating for stronger government procurement policies and processes, and encouraging and enabling collaboration within and across sectors.
“We will engage with reporting entities to increase action and ambition by adopting effective due diligence processes. This includes improving business compliance with the Act, building capability through targeted and practical resources, and encouraging business leadership in responding to modern slavery risks,” the report said.
Additionally, the Plan includes identifying opportunities to strengthen law and policy, and advocating for more effective responses to modern slavery with a focus on a reform of the Modern Slavery Act.
Lived Experience Leader and Advocate Moe Turaga said the plan is more than a document of policies and objectives, it’s a reflection of voices once silenced.
“The Commissioner’s commitment to embedding lived experience leadership is a powerful step towards a future where Australia does not just acknowledge any form of slavery, but actively dismantles it. Yet this must be more than the start of a conversation – it must be the beginning of a long journey of shared responsibility,” he said.
“And so, my call to action is clear: to government, to business, to civil society and to communities – you must not only open the door to survivor voices, you must walk beside us. Include us in decisions, honour our leadership and act with the urgency that freedom demands. Only then will this plan become more than strategy. It will become justice lived out.”
