Modern Slavery Act
13 August 2020
The Law Council of Australia, guided by its Business and Human Rights Committee, have collaborated with the Association of Corporate Counsel to release a new fact sheet to help businesses understand their reporting requirements under the Modern Slavery Act.
The Act, which came into force at the start of 2019, requires Australian-based entities and those operating in Australia with more than $100 million in revenue to report the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains to the Minister for Home Affairs. Other entities can elect to report voluntarily.
Law Council of Australia President, Pauline Wright said by reporting these risks, such entities operating in Australia are joining international efforts to eliminate modern slavery, particularly prevalent in our Asia-Pacific region.
A modern slavery statement must be submitted within six months after the end of the reporting entity’s financial year. The reporting period is the entity’s first full financial year that commences after 1 January 2019. However, reporting entities due to submit their first modern slavery statement in 2020 have been granted an additional three months on top of the normal six months, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A link to the government announcement can be found here.
The Modern Slavery Act fact sheet can be found online at the Law Council’s website. The Law Council hopes that the fact sheet will be a useful resource for in-house counsel and encourages you to share this document with your networks.
Last Updated on 16/02/2021