Overview

Australia, a nation with relatively high levels of wealth and resources, has shown the strongest government response to modern slavery in the Asia Pacific region and ranks second globally. This robust response is attributed to effective criminal justice mechanisms and efforts to address underlying risk factors. Since the 2018 Global Slavery Index, Australia has introduced several positive measures, including a new national action plan against modern slavery and the implementation of the Modern Slavery Act, which addresses modern slavery in global supply chains.

Despite these efforts, there are opportunities for improvement. The government can enhance its response by better identifying and supporting survivors, closing legal loopholes to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 without exceptions, and establishing the role of a national Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner under the Modern Slavery Act. Australia has the lowest vulnerability to modern slavery in Asia and the Pacific, and correspondingly, the second lowest prevalence of modern slavery in the region.

Prevalence

According to the 2023 Global Slavery Index, an estimated 41,000 individuals were living in modern slavery in Australia on any given day in 2021. This equates to a prevalence rate of 1.6 people per thousand. Within the Asia Pacific region, Australia ranks 26th out of 27 countries in terms of modern slavery prevalence, and 149th out of 160 countries globally. In the financial year ending 30 June 2022, authorities received 294 reports of modern slavery, the highest annual number ever recorded. However, this suggests modern slavery remains underreported given the estimated prevalence.

Forced Labour Exploitation

From 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) received 42 reports of forced labour, predominantly in high-risk industries such as agriculture, construction, domestic work, meat processing, cleaning, hospitality, and food services. Many of these industries rely on migrant workers on temporary visas. For example, Pacific migrants on labour mobility schemes designed to fill worker shortages have faced exploitation in rural areas, including wage theft and unsafe working conditions.

Forced labour also occurs in domestic services, where government oversight is limited. A 2019 study by the Salvation Army identified 35 migrants trafficked into domestic servitude, 91% of whom were female. These individuals were often deceived during recruitment, some lured with promises of marriage, while others sought work in domestic services or migrated for other jobs but were coerced into domestic work. Perpetrators confiscated identity documents, used or threatened violence, and exploited victims’ unfamiliarity with their environment and financial situation. Fijian victims of domestic servitude in Australia have also faced movement restrictions, limited communication with family, and travel restrictions.

Forced Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Adults

In the year ending 30 June 2022, 18% of reports to the AFP concerned sexual servitude and exploitation. In 2021, a Queensland man was charged with organised unlawful prostitution and sexual servitude offences for allegedly holding women as young as 17 in servitude and forcing them into sex work. More than half of offenders convicted in Australia between 2005 and 2019 for trafficking for sexual exploitation were women, often driven by the need to support family members or having previously experienced exploitation themselves.

Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

Twenty-one reports of child trafficking were referred to the AFP in the financial year ending 30 June 2022, with 14% of individuals referred to the Support for Trafficked People Program (STPP) between 2017 and 2020 being children. In 2020, an investigation into an online child sexual abuse network led to the arrest of 14 men across New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia, uncovering 46 child victims. Australian offenders have also been found to send payments or travel overseas, primarily to the Philippines, for child sexual exploitation. A 2020 study of financial transactions by Australians to facilitators of child sexual abuse in the Philippines indicated that most viewers were aged between 50 and 69, and over half did not have a criminal record. In May 2019, a Queensland man was sentenced for paying a mother in the Philippines to livestream the sexual abuse of her two daughters over nearly five years. Such cases of online child sexual exploitation have increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.