The Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) set a new standard for modern slavery disclosures in Australia. The Act required entities with a consolidated annual revenue of $100 million or more to disclose their efforts in identifying and addressing modern slavery risks within their operations and supply chain. The objective of the Act was to provide a framework to assist with proactively and effectively addressing modern slavery.
The 2023 independent review of the Modern Slavery Act, commissioned by the Australian Government (Review), found that the Act had not resulted in meaningful change for people affected by modern slavery. The Review made 30 recommendations to strengthen modern slavery obligations for reporting entities, including the introduction of a positive requirement to conduct due diligence and the introduction of a federal Anti-Slavery Commissioner.
In December 2024, the Australian Government responded to the Review, agreeing, or agreeing in principle to 25 of the 30 recommendations. On 7 November 2024, Chris Evans was appointed as the inaugural Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner for a five year term. The Commissioner's role is to further strengthen Australia's efforts to address modern slavery by providing an independent pillar to Australia's response and a national leadership role.
Preparing for next steps in modern slavery risk management
Learn how to prepare and respond to evolving modern slavery risk management expectations. Read our report for:
- an overview of changes to mandatory reporting requirements
- insight into reporting entities in high-risk sectors, including financial services, resources & energy, and property and construction, health services, retail and food, beverage and agriculture.
- a blueprint for enhancing modern slavery risk management and demonstrating continuous improvement
- a checklist of key questions to help you identify and assess your modern slavery risks.
Download our report
To understand your obligations under the Modern Slavery Act and learn about the next steps for your business, download our report.
Modern Slavery
A practical guide to prepare and respond to evolving modern slavery requirements.
Global modern slavery statistics
In 2021, 50 million people were living in modern slavery – an increase of 10 million since the 2018 Index.1
In Australia, an estimated 41,000 people are currently living in slavery.1
$468 billion of imports by G20 countries are at risk of modern slavery.1
The top five at-risk products are:1
- Electronics
- Garments
- Palm oil
- Solar panels
- Textiles
Next steps: Continuous improvement and response to evolving regulations
Entities will be at different stages of maturity in identifying and managing their modern slavery risks. At the same time, expectations of modern slavery management are rapidly evolving. As a result, regardless of your stage of maturity, you should continue to reassess your ambition and practices and strive to build your program over time.
Our report outlines these steps in detail and provides illustrative case studies drawn from our extensive experience supporting clients at different stages of maturity to manage their modern slavery risks.
A checklist for addressing modern slavery
To further support your response, we have developed a detailed list of key questions to consider – for entities at each stage of maturity – when considering your evolving approach to due diligence.
How KPMG's business and human rights specialists can help
KPMG’s Human Rights & Social Impact team is dedicated to helping your entity understand and address human rights risks and impacts.
Our team specialises in modern slavery, working with Australian and global businesses across diverse sectors to assess, identify and manage their modern slavery risk.
We have 100 KPMG in-country human rights specialists across 38 countries, offering global knowledge of peer and industry practices to provide an in-depth understanding of local contexts and their interaction with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human rights.
We also offer entities the ability to independently self-assess the maturity of their approach to managing modern slavery risks through our Modern Slavery Benchmark tool.
Download the full report
Learn how to prepare and respond to strengthened modern slavery due diligence reporting requirements.
Modern Slavery
A practical guide to prepare and respond to evolving modern slavery requirements.
Contact KPMG’s Human Rights & Modern Slavery specialists
