Modern Slavery Laws

The introduction of the Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) (Modern Slavery Laws) requires businesses to do more to address risks of modern slavery. The Modern Slavery Laws require large organisations to lodge Annual Statements that explain what businesses are doing to assess and address risks of modern slavery in operations and supply chains and actions being taken to mitigate these risks. The Modern Slavery Laws are designed to (amongst other things) increase business awareness of modern slavery risks and improve transparency across global supply chains.

Modern Slavery

There is no single definition of ‘Modern Slavery’, it is as an umbrella term to refer to cases of human exploitation where the victim can’t refuse or leave, and can include human trafficking, servitude, child labour, sex trafficking, forced marriage, forced labour and debt bondage.

A person is in Modern Slavery if they are:

• forced to work through coercion or mental or physical threat
• owned or controlled by an ‘employer’ through abuse or threat of abuse
• dehumanised and treated as a commodity, or bought and sold as ‘property’
• physically constrained or have a restriction placed on their freedom of movement.

Is it around us and are we part of it?

The Walk Free Foundation state that the 2021 Global Estimates indicate that 49.6 million people are in some form of Modern Slavery today, which is an increase of 9.3 million people since 2016. This includes 16.3% of the worlds forced labour being exploited in the construction industry and a further 20.1% in manufacturing, mining and quarrying (all of which supply raw materials and components for construction).

Closer to home, it is estimated that in Australia there are 1,900 people in Modern Slavery today and nearly $12bn worth of “at risk” goods imported into our country.

Why this survey?

This survey has been initiated to achieve two things:

1. The survey aims to raise the awareness of Subcontractors and Suppliers of what Modern Slavery is and how they may be indirectly supporting Modern Slavery within their supply chains.
2. The survey also aims to gather information as to the efforts being conducted by our Subcontractors and Suppliers to identify, assess and respond to Modern Slavery risks.

The responses we receive will give Joss a better understanding of our supply chain and help us (and our industry through our summarised reporting) further educate and work towards eliminating Modern Slavery.

Please answer all the questions honestly and transparently providing as much detail as possible. The survey results will be utilised for reporting statistics; however your completed Survey will not be shared without your prior consent.