The fate of a proposed modern slavery law in New Zealand is unclear, with the new Government undecided on whether to move ahead with a plan developed under its Labour predecessor.
The potential for further delays on the issue has further concerned advocacy groups and experts, who are also critical of Labour’s failure to get a bill across the line before the 2023 election.
In July last year, the Labour government announced organisations with over $20 million in annual revenue would be required to publicly report on what they were doing to address exploitation risks in their operations and supply chains.
At the time, the then-government said it would take six months to draft the legislation, a timeline that could have allowed for its introduction to Parliament by the end of this month.
However, with Labour losing power at the October 14 election and its National-led successor now reviewing its predecessor’s plans, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Newsroom that Cabinet was “yet to make decisions” regarding the proposal.
The Ministry of Business of Innovation and Employment, tasked with drawing up the legislation, echoed van Velden’s remarks, telling Newsroom: “Decisions on whether to progress proposed legislation to address modern slavery will be made by the new government in due course.”
Tearfund NZ’s head of advocacy Claire Gray told Newsroom the organisation hoped the new administration would not back away from the progress that had already taken place leading up to the election.
Gray was disappointed Labour had not moved faster on the issue, given every delay could make life worse for the millions of people in modern slavery around the world.
“It really is deeply saddening for me to know that I’m in a country where the sense of urgency that I believe should be felt around this issue isn’t being reflected in the way that we’re making progress on it legislatively.”
While she would be surprised if the Government didn’t move ahead with the legislation in some form, the more important question was whether its final design would be sufficiently rigorous to make a meaningful difference.
World Vision NZ head of advocacy Rebekah Armstrong told Newsroom she was concerned about the Government’s unwillingness to commit to a modern slavery law, which was becoming a requirement for companies in a range of other countries.
Armstrong said some of New Zealand’s free trade agreements also made references to due diligence in tackling modern slavery in supply chains, and the country risked being out of step without legislation in place.
The slow progress under the last government had been frustrating, given the strong public and business support for the proposals, and the risk of further delays was a worry.
“It’s becoming an embarrassment that we’re lagging behind other OECD countries. A lot of significant work has taken place, there has been cross-party support for this legislation, and we’re not sure what the hold-up is.”
World Vision had sent van Velden a briefing document about the need for a modern slavery law, and was set to meet the minister in February.
It had also asked the Government to amend the current proposal to reinstate a requirement for companies to undertake due diligence, given that was the gold standard around the world, and did not support any move towards a voluntary disclosure regime.
Dr Brent Burmester, a researcher at the University of Auckland’s Centre for Research on Modern Slavery, told Newsroom he did not expect any progress on the law in early 2024 as the Government appeared to have greater priorities in other areas.
When it did find time to address the topic, Burmester said it was possible ministers would take a less ambitious approach in terms of which companies such a law would apply to, and any penalties for non-compliance.
Labour Party workplace relations and safety spokeswoman Camilla Belich told Newsroom the previous government’s work on a modern slavery law was “too important to be left behind”.
“Not only do I think it’s the right thing to do in terms of making sure that our supply chains are free from the kind of exploitation that modern slavery involves, but we also have a lot of international obligations which require us to implement this type of legislation.”
Belich defended the slow progress made under Labour, saying extensive consultation and the work of an expert advisory group had been part of a “considered” process that the party had hoped could secure bipartisan support.
“I attended the announcement, [and] I recall a lot of the participants in the advisory group having a lot of hope that no matter what the outcome of the election would be, that this would be progressed because of its importance.”
New Zealand would find itself out of step with like-minded countries if the Government ultimately chose not to move ahead with legislation, she said.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has previously indicated his support for modern slavery laws.
Asked in 2022 by RNZ‘s Guyon Espiner what issue he would march in the street for, Luxon said: “Something I feel very passionate about is modern slavery … that’s something that I think we could do a better job of [including] modern slavery legislation, making sure that we’re holding ourselves up to a standard.”
