One-fifth of Australian imports have probable links to forced labour - CHOICE
www.choice.com.au
New research reveals that 21.5% of imported goods come from regions known for exploiting workers.
  • Australia’s anti-slavery framework is currently under review with an eye to putting more pressure on companies to clean up their their supply chains
  • A research project based on 2024 import data from the ABS found that 21.5% of all goods imported into Australia were from regions with known forced labour issues
  • Anti-slavery advocates are calling on the federal govenment to compel businesses to do more than just report on possible forced labour risks

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Members of the federal government are aware of the shortcomings. Earlier this year, Australia’s Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Chris Evans, recommended a number of improvements to Australia’s anti-slavery framework, which is currently under review.

They are more incremental than structural, and include giving the Anti-Slavery Commissioner the power to declare that a particular product, service, or industry carries a high risk of being involved in modern slavery.

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In February this year, Australian anti-slavery group the Walk Free Foundation and supply chain management firm Fair Supply released the findings of a research project based on 2024 import data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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Many other everyday goods – including phones, computers, footwear and vehicle parts – were also found to be at risk of being manufactured by exploited workers in these regions, the Walk Free Foundation reports. The combined value of these imports was $98.6 billion.

(The exporting countries in question were China, Malaysia, India, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Brazil, Argentina, Nepal and Japan.)

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  • CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.netEnglish
    3·
    2 hours ago

    I tried so hard to break free and only buy slavery-free, ethically manufactured or second hand clothing about 3 years ago. It’s hard and expensive but possible if you have enough money and the time to do all the research yourself. It really shouldn’t be this hard though. Slavery free needs to be the baseline not a feature you pay more for.

  • FireWire400@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    5 hours ago

    One-fifth is still surprisingly low, I expected it to be like 50%. The biggest culprit is still clothing (89%, according to the article), something that could be sourced locally.