Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s Strategic Plan 2025-2028
17 April 2025
On 9 April 2025, the Law Council made a submission to the newly-appointed Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Mr Chris Evans, in response to the Commissioner’s call for input into his Strategic Plan 2025-2028.
With input from members of our Business and Human Rights Committee, the Law Council’s submission built on our 2024 submission on the Modern Slavery Amendment (Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner) Bill 2024, which has since passed and provided for the establishment of the Commissioner’s office. We also made a supplementary submission addressing questions on notice from the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee regarding the Bill.
Our submission on the Commissioner’s Strategic Plan 2025-2028 calls upon the Commissioner to support businesses and organisations to examine their supply chains and operations closely for modern slavery risks, as well as to produce comprehensive and meaningful reports under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth).
The submission also encourages the Commissioner to raise the profile of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in Australia, to draw attention to global developments in addressing forced labour, and to engage with victim-survivors of modern slavery and related practices to inform his advocacy.
Holding training sessions and workshops; developing guidance materials and risk assessment tools, and seizing opportunities to speak to key decision-makers are just some of the ways in which we suggest the Commissioner could achieve these goals.
Overall, the Law Council strongly supports the Commissioner’s role, and looks forward to engaging further with Mr Evans on his mission to strengthen Australia’s efforts against modern slavery.
Last Updated on 15/04/2025