Strengthening Australia’s response to modern slavery in supply chains

Closes 25 Sep 2026

This service needs cookies enabled.

Part A – Core legislative components of a failure to prevent offence

This section seeks stakeholder feedback on the design of the core components of the proposed offence. This includes the elements of the offence, proposed defences and potential guidance. Stakeholders are invited to consider how each component should operate in practice, including scope, application and interaction with the existing modern slavery framework and the broader criminal law framework.

Question 1 – Model

The core components include:

  1. application of the offence
  2. the underlying criminal conduct to be prevented
  3. the connection to corporations’ sourced product or services
  4. the connection to corporations’ conduct
  5. fault elements
  6. defence
  7. guidance
  8. penalty
  9. commencement.

In your response, you may wish to consider:

  • if the scope of the offence appropriately targets entities best placed to prevent modern slavery
  • the suitability of the proposed physical and fault elements of the offence
  • the appropriate connection between the corporation and the underlying criminal conduct
  • the construction of the proposed reasonable steps defence
  • how the offence could account for the practical challenges of identifying, monitoring and addressing modern slavery risks in complex, multi-tiered supply chains
  • ensuring the reasonable steps defence provides for accountability and incentivises corporations to take action to proactively address modern slavery risks in supply chains
  • whether other defences should be considered
  • how the scope of the offence can be designed to operate effectively with related domestic and international frameworks.

You may want to use the case studies at Appendix A to help with your responses.

Question 2 – Impact

Recognising that the proposed failure to prevent modern slavery offence would apply only to corporations with annual consolidated revenue of more than $100 million, stakeholders are invited to be as specific as possible and consider:  

  • measures that could reduce compliance costs and the associated estimated costs of these measures on corporations (if any)
  • potential economic, competition, social and distributional impact/s, including flow on effect on entities in a corporation’s supply chain and workers
  • potential effects on annual modern slavery statements and related reporting, referrals of suspected modern slavery by corporations to law enforcement, victim support and engagement with law enforcement
  • any unintended consequences
  • any additional changes that could be considered. 

You may want to use the case studies at Appendix A to assist with your responses.

Question 3 – Support

You may want to consider:

  • the role of ministerial or other guidance, training or other resources
  • the format the guidance should take, and matters it should address
  • the international standards or other existing resources guidance should draw from
  • how the guidance should complement or interact with existing guidance products from the Attorney-General’s Department, Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner and NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner
  • how guidance, the offence and the reasonable steps defence can operate to minimise duplication for corporations that are already complying with comparable international regimes.