Response from the NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner to the Australian Government’s announcement of reforms to combat human trafficking and migrant worker exploitation

4 October 2023

The NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner, Dr James Cockayne, welcomed today’s announcement from the Minister for Home Affairs, Clare O’Neil MP, and the Minister for Immigration, Andrew Giles MP, while calling for consultation with survivors of exploitation and human trafficking.

The following is attributable to NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner, Dr James Cockayne:

“Our systems for detecting and exposing human trafficking and migrant worker exploitation are not working. There are an estimated 41,000 people in modern slavery and human trafficking in Australia right now, yet only 300 reports to police each year. And there have been only 31 convictions in two decades.

The reforms announced today are an important first step to addressing this crisis of detection and exposure, but the fact that an alleged human trafficking kingpin, Binjun Xie, is being deported – not arrested and prosecuted – shows there is still more work to be done to make our detection and exposure systems fit for purpose.

To break the silence around migrant worker exploitation and human trafficking we need to make our reporting systems much more victim-centric. In the last year I’ve heard from dozens of survivors of modern slavery in commercial sex work, agriculture, horticulture, and the cleaning industry in New South Wales who have unsuccessfully tried to report their issues to state police, workplace regulators and the federal departments overseeing migrant worker schemes. Many others simply choose not to come forward because they fear that doing so will place them, their co-workers, and their families at greater risk than staying silent.

The best way to ensure these reforms have the intended effect will be to consult closely with survivors of exploitation and human trafficking. They have the lived experience that can inform the reform process to ensure taxpayer funds are spent on solutions that will actually make it easier and safer for the tens of thousands of potential victims of modern slavery to come forward. I strongly encourage the Minister for Home Affairs, Clare O’Neil MP, and the Minister for Immigration, Andrew Giles MP, to ensure survivors are given meaningful opportunities to inform this reform process, including through trauma-informed engagement by Operation Inglenook.

I welcome the reforms announced today and look forward to supporting Operation Inglenook and other federal authorities to ensure that this new focus on detection and exposure is successful in tackling the migrant worker exploitation and human trafficking crisis in New South Wales and beyond.”