Over a fifth of Australia’s annual imports (21.5 percent) are from commodity categories with an elevated risk of modern slavery, according to new research from Fair Supply and Walk Free.
This equals approximately $98.6 billion in goods or about one dollar in every five dollars spent on imports, and includes items such as electronics, telecommunications equipment, apparel, cars, office equipment, footwear and textiles.
The analysis – which draws on several sources, including 2024 import data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics – reveals Australian businesses are purchasing goods linked to supply chains in which forced labour is prevalent, with imports originating from countries within Asia, South America and Africa.
The electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances category was identified as the category with the highest value of at-risk goods, with around $12.9 billion of Australia’s $28.3 billion spend on these imports associated with forced labour (46 percent of total spend).
This was followed by telecommunications equipment ($11.5 billion of total $20.2 billion spend), with goods primarily sourced from China and Malaysia.
Apparel ranked third ($11.4 billion of total $12.8 billion spend), with goods originating from China, India, Brazil and Argentina. This represents 89 percent of all imports in this category.
Miscellaneous manufactured goods ($10.3 billion of total $23.9 billion spend) – including toys, ornaments and other household items primarily sourced from China – rounded out the list alongside road vehicles ($8.9 billion of Australia’s $62.0 billion spend), including aluminium auto parts from China.
“Without stronger regulation, businesses face no requirement to identify, reduce or report these risks in a meaningful or consistent way,” said Walk Free.
“Australia’s Modern Slavery Act was world-leading when introduced, but evidence over the last eight years shows mandatory reporting alone has done little to reduce harm for victims.
“Most companies are still not identifying specific risks within their supply chains, and even fewer are taking concrete steps to address forced labour.”
Walk Free has urged the Australian Federal Government to move quickly to strengthen its response to forced labour by introducing a mandatory due diligence obligation into the Modern Slavery Act.
“Strengthening the Act will make it harder for goods made with forced labour to enter Australia and help protect the millions of people trapped in exploitation around the world,” it added.
“Australia’s households should not have to shoulder the hidden cost of forced labour. Our government and businesses must act now.”
Australia’s Anti-Slavery Commissioner Chris Evans recently released his own recommendations to strengthen modern slavery laws, mirroring Walk Free’s plea for mandatory risk-based modern slavery due diligence obligations.
His position paper also proposes a mechanism for the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner to declare that a product, service or industry poses a high risk of modern slavery, requiring businesses to consider such declarations in their due diligence and reporting, thereby improving consistency, accountability and risk-based action.
The paper was released ahead of the Federal Government’s consultations with stakeholders about potential reforms to the Modern Slavery Act.
“We have known for years that the Modern Slavery Act’s transparency measures alone have not created meaningful impact for exploited workers,” said Evans.
“Currently, reporting is mandatory, but taking action is not, leaving workers exposed and responsible businesses disadvantaged.
“Other like-minded countries have already legislated mandatory due diligence regimes, recognising that reporting is not enough and that real action is required. These reforms are pragmatic, enforceable and designed to deliver real change for people trapped in modern slavery.”
