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January is Modern Slavery Awareness Month, a time to shine a light on an issue that is often misunderstood, underestimated, and closer to home than many realise.
Modern slavery is not just a global problem. It exists within Australia and across the supply chains that support our everyday goods and services. As regulatory expectations rise and scrutiny increases, business has a critical role to play in identifying, preventing and addressing modern slavery risks.
Modern Slavery in Australia: The Reality
Modern slavery includes forced labour, forced marriage, human trafficking, debt bondage and other forms of exploitation. While it is often associated with offshore operations, evidence shows it occurs within Australia and throughout domestic and international supply chains.
Key statistics to highlight the issue:
- Scale of the problem: Around 41,000 people in Australia are estimated to be living in modern slavery, Walk Free including forced labour and forced marriage. The reality is it is most likely much more than this number, and we really do not have a clear picture of the true extent of people living within slavery like conditions within Australia.
- Going off the estimate of 41,000, that equates to approximately 1.6 out of every 1,000 people in Australia experiencing modern slavery conditions. Walk Free
- Under-reporting reality: For every reported victim of modern slavery in Australia, there are an estimated about 4 undetected victims, meaning the real scale is likely significantly higher. AIHW
- Recent reporting increase: In the 2023–24 financial year, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) received a record ~380 reports of modern slavery and human trafficking, more than in any previous year. AIHW
- Gender disparity: In recent reporting, a large majority of identified victims-survivors are female (around 87%), while most perpetrators are male (around 88%). Australian Institute of Criminology
- Forced marriage reports rising: The number of forced marriage reports has risen significantly in recent years, showing heightened awareness and detection. Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner
- Exit trafficking: Reports of exit trafficking increased in the most recent AFP reporting period, highlighting evolving patterns of exploitation. https://www.aic.gov.au/media-centre/news/exit-trafficking-and-forced-marriage-most-common-modern-slavery-offences
- Global context: While Australia’s estimate is tens of thousands, at least an estimate of 50 million people globally are considered to be living in modern slavery conditions, a sharp increase over the past decade. Salvation Army Australia
- Supply chains linked to construction, agriculture, cleaning, manufacturing, food processing and textiles are considered higher risk.
These figures highlight an uncomfortable truth: modern slavery risk is embedded in the way goods and services are produced and delivered, and businesses are uniquely positioned to influence change.
How Can Businesses Address Modern Slavery?
Businesses play a central role in ensuring Australian supply chains are not tainted by modern slavery. Addressing the risk goes beyond policy statements or annual reporting, it requires action.
Key steps include:
- Understanding where modern slavery risks exist across operations and supply chains
- Engaging suppliers to assess labour practices and working conditions
- Implementing due diligence processes that identify, prevent and mitigate risks
- Establishing governance, accountability and escalation mechanisms
- Collecting evidence to support claims and disclosures
Done well, modern slavery risk management protects workers, strengthens supply chain resilience and builds trust with customers, investors and regulators.
Key Changes Expected in 2026
Australia’s modern slavery framework is set to change significantly.
Proposed reforms to the Modern Slavery Act are expected to be phased in from 2026, strengthening both reporting obligations and enforcement mechanisms.
What’s changing: Proposed reforms to Australia’s Modern Slavery Act are expected to be phased in from 2026, strengthening reporting obligations and enforcement mechanisms.
What this means: Reforms are likely to introduce more rigorous and standardised reporting requirements, mandatory due diligence, potential monetary penalties, and enhancements to the public modern slavery reporting repository.
Why it matters: Businesses will need stronger systems to identify, assess and address modern slavery risks across their operations and supply chains, supported by clear evidence and improved governance processes.
For many businesses, this will represent a shift from compliance-driven reporting to demonstrable risk management and accountability.
The Importance of Scalable, End-to-end Assurance Solutions
As expectations increase, fragmented or manual approaches to modern slavery risk management will no longer be sufficient.
- Scalable, end-to-end solutions for modern slavery enable businesses to:
- Assess risk consistently across large and complex supplier networks
- Monitor supplier compliance over time
- Centralise data, evidence and reporting
- Support continual improvement rather than one-off disclosures
By embedding modern slavery risk management into supply chain and governance processes, organisations can move from reactive reporting to proactive prevention.
Why choose Intertek SAI Global as your Assurance Specialists for Modern Slavery?
Intertek SAI Global brings together deep assurance expertise, global reach and practical supply chain insight to help businesses address modern slavery risks with confidence. We work as a trusted partner to assess risk, strengthen governance and provide independent assurance over modern slavery statements and due diligence processes.
Our approach goes beyond compliance, helping organisations build robust, scalable systems that stand up to regulatory scrutiny, support ethical supply chains and demonstrate genuine accountability to stakeholders.