\u201cWe can\u2019t keep stalling while workers are exploited and our reputation erodes. The Prime Minister has said he would march for this cause, now the Government needs to show leadership and walk the talk,\u201d Hegarty said.<\/p>\n
The statement said modern slavery legislation was a \u201cnotable gap in our corporate regulatory landscape\u201d, and that urgent action was required to protect our reputation and better manage the risks modern slavery creates for both people and businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Modern Slavery Bills now proposed by both the National and Labour party… we stand at a tipping point to introduce legislation aimed at driving transparent and ethical supply chains,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is critical to protect vulnerable workers but also to maintain competitiveness and trust in our exports and brand.\u201d<\/p>\n
The joint statement said that a number of countries, including some of New Zealand\u2019s key trading partners, have introduced laws requiring business to identify, address and report on modern slavery or broader human rights risks. <\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, Aotearoa New Zealand has failed to keep pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cross-party consensus<\/p>\n
In May this year, National\u2019s Greg Fleming proposed the Modern Slavery Reporting Bill, which would require entities to report on how they identify, address, mitigate and remediate incidents of modern slavery -including trafficking in persons – within their operations and supply chains.<\/p>\n
In July, Labour\u2019s Camilla Belich proposed the Modern Slavery Bill, which aims to implement a fit-for-purpose statutory framework to support actions taken to combat modern slavery. <\/p>\n
While Fleming and Belich both expressed their support for some form of modern slavery legislation to be made official, the Government hasn\u2019t introduced any to the House of Parliament.<\/p>\n
National MP Greg Fleming said he has discussed co-sponsoring a bill with Labour\u2019s Camila Belich. Photo \/ Marty Melville<\/p>\n
Fleming explained that the reason his proposed bill is as a member rather than from the Government is because of resistance from the Act Party.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey see it as unnecessary, as another regulation on business. That\u2019s only referring to the part around the need to annually audit your operations and supply chains and then report on that,\u201d Fleming said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy boss [Prime Minister Christopher Luxon] is very supportive of the idea of a reporting framework, that\u2019s why it hasn\u2019t gone through as the Government bill.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said his bill has wide support in his caucus, and that he has discussed co-sponsoring a bill with Belich as they are aligned on the outcomes.<\/p>\n
Fleming explained the situation had highlighted the barriers that come with the rule of 61.<\/p>\n
If a bill achieves the support of 61 or more non-executive MPs, it bypasses the members\u2019 ballot, commonly known as the biscuit tin, and is introduced directly to the House.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole idea of the rule of 61 when it was introduced five years ago was to basically say to parties, look there\u2019s lots of stuff surely that we agree on. If you can find some stuff that you do, then that can take precedent and members days can be really constructive instead of one side filibustering it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t met an MP yet, senior or junior, who doesn\u2019t agree with the idea or with the concept. It\u2019s just that no one will blink.\u201d<\/p>\n
One area where Fleming disagrees with Belich is the creation of a modern slavery commissioner. Fleming said this instead could be done as a deputy role under the Human Rights Commission.<\/p>\n
He said amendments to the Crimes Act being worked on by Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith will address one part of Belich\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n
Auckland based Labour list MP Camilla Belich said Chris Hipkins has written to Christopher Luxon on the issue. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
Belich said her caucus is strongly in support of a comprehensive response to modern slavery that addresses exploitation in New Zealand\u2019s supply chains.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy member\u2019s bill addresses these areas and also covers the reporting aspect of the National Party Bill,\u201d Belich said.<\/p>\n
\u201cChris Hipkins has written to Christopher Luxon offering our support for a Government Bill and we urge the National Party to act in accordance with their conscience and adopt my member\u2019s bill or introduce a Government Bill. We must act.\u201d<\/p>\n
History of attempts<\/p>\n
Modern slavery legislation in New Zealand has had several false starts in recent history.<\/p>\n
In May 2024, the Coalition Government quietly disbanded the Modern Slavery Leadership Advisory Group, which was set up to provide advice on modern slavery law. <\/p>\n
At the time, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister\u202fBrooke van Velden advised that the issue was not a current priority for the Government, instead choosing to focus on other workplace relations and safety issues like Pay Equity and the ongoing Holidays Act reform.<\/p>\n
Labour\u2019s progress on modern slavery legislation was similarly sluggish to that of the coalition Government.<\/p>\n
The previous Government consulted on and sought submissions on modern slavery and worker exploitation in the early part of 2022. <\/p>\n
Work on the issue was passed between ministers after the original minister in charge, Michael Wood, was forced to resign following his Auckland Airport shares scandal in 2023. <\/p>\n
By July 2023, only a Cabinet paper had been produced alongside its proposed legislation, before all work on it was paused for the 2023 election.<\/p>\n
Before this, Labour MP Dr Liz Craig introduced a Transparency in Supply Chains member\u2019s bill in 2017, although this was withdrawn in March 2018. <\/p>\n
In 2015, Labour MP Peeni Henare introduced a member\u2019s bill, which was voted down. The concern was that the bill did not go far enough with respect to issues of definition. <\/p>\n
In 2009, Maryan Street, another Labour MP, introduced a member\u2019s bill seeking to amend the Customs and Excise Act to prohibit the import of goods produced by slave labour. <\/p>\n
The bill was voted down at first reading. <\/p>\n
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe can\u2019t keep stalling while workers are exploited and our reputation erodes. The Prime Minister has said he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25398,25395,4619,3255,665,19092,8613,138,1559,8556,2734,266,209,1426,12472,661,24350,111,43,139,69,90,25397,61,25396,102,19985,80],"class_list":["post-25061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-25398","tag-215b","tag-act","tag-address","tag-around","tag-assets","tag-billion","tag-business","tag-called","tag-companies","tag-giants","tag-government","tag-group","tag-investment","tag-laws","tag-major","tag-modern","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-slavery","tag-to","tag-urge","tag-with","tag-worth","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}