The Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s Strategic Plan for 2025-2028 was launched on 22 October by Federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland.
“Modern slavery deprives victims of their dignity, fundamental rights and freedoms,” Rowland said.
Slavery survivor Moe Turaga also spoke at the event. He was consulted in drafting of the plan and wrote a foreword.
“In 2025, no one should be living or working in modern slavery,” he said. “When I look at this strategic plan, I do not see just words on paper. I see lives – lives like mine, lives of people who have been silenced, and lives of those who are still waiting to be heard.”
Turaga is part of the Australian Catholic Anti-slavery Network (ACAN) program team and was appointed by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP to the Domus 8.7 Modern Slavery Remediation Service.
According to the Global Slavery Index 2023 there are 41,000 people in modern slavery in Australia right now and 50 million people experiencing some form of modern slavery around the globe.
Since 2019, the archdiocese has run the ACAN Modern Slavery Risk Management program for over 50 Catholic organisations to support compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2018
The act requires certain entities to assess, address and report on modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains.
Archbishop Fisher has pledged to slavery-proof all of the archdiocese’s operations and supply chains. “Buying goods is not just a commercial matter; it has moral dimensions,” he has declared.
Modern slavery is an umbrella term for slavery and slavery-like practices which include forced labour, child labour, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, debt bondage, deceptive recruitment, slavery, and organ trafficking.
In the 2023-24 financial year, there were 382 reports of slavery and trafficking in Australia, NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner James Cockayne told ABC News.
But the Australian Institute of Criminology estimates that for every victim who is identified, four go undetected.
Aged care is a growing area of concern, according to Cockayne, with Pacific Islanders on temporary visas being especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
“Modern slavery is a systemic failure where exploitative business practices, weak enforcement, and the precarity of migrant and temporary workers intersect to create conditions ripe for abuse, invisibility, and impunity,” says Jenny Stanger from ACAN.
“For migrant workers, this means the job they are offered turns out to be a lie and instead they are forced to work in difficult and degrading conditions, with little or no pay. The threat of violence, deportation or harm to themselves or their families is used to coerce and control them for someone else’s profit.”
The Australian Government has responded to a statutory review of the Modern Slavery Act and is consulting with survivors, business and other stakeholders, including ACAN, on amendments to strengthen the Act.
The new Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Chris Evans, Moe Turaga and Jenny Stanger will be the guest speakers at the Sydney Catholic Business Network lunch on 13 November.
