The NSW Parliament passed the NSW Modern Slavery Act 2018 in June 2018. The Act is yet to be proclaimed. A committee was asked to examine the Act and make recommendations based on their inquiry.
The report is now available. A number of recommendations have been made, including that the NSW Government:
- work with the Australian Government to harmonise the threshold for reporting with the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) to $50 million (currently the threshold in the Commonwealth Act is $100 million)
- develop a voluntary reporting mechanism for businesses falling under the $50 million threshold
- Give victims of acts of modern slavery access to recognition payments under the Victims Rights and Support Acts 2013
- Establish a working group to develop further amendments to the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007
to protect potential victims of forced marriage - require local councils to have the same procurement and reporting obligations as NSW Government agencies
- take into account the comments and recommendations from this report, with the aim of the Act commencing by January 2021.
The report can be accessed here.
