"Change is coming, but some retailers aren't ready for slavery laws", 1 January 2017

Some of Australia's major retailers...unprepared for new laws likely to be brought before parliament that will force them to show how they ensure their products are not made with slave labour.

A joint federal parliament committee...called on the government to introduce a Modern Slavery Act, including mandatory supply chain reporting for large companies...recommended that businesses with annual revenue of more than [AUD]$50 million should have to disclose where their products come from and detail what steps they took to ensure slavery and labour abuse did not existing in their supply chains.

A list of companies that have to report and which ones complied would be made public, and after two years the government would start to name and shame companies that failed to report.

The committee called for financial penalties for businesses that did not comply, and for companies that failed to act on evidence of exploitation...