Fresh national data has revealed a complex, largely hidden issue
Modern slavery is a problem playing out not just in private homes and intimate relationships – but in workplaces and supply chains across Australia, as revealed in the Australian Institute of Criminology's Modern slavery in Australia 2024–25 report.
For HR leaders, this isn’t a distant human rights issue. It is directly linked to workforce practices, recruitment models, third‑party labour providers, and organisational culture. How your organisation hires, manages, procures and responds to complaints can either enable exploitation or help expose and prevent it.
Modern slavery is used here as an umbrella term for all human trafficking, slavery and slavery‑like offences, including:
While many cases occur in private settings, the tactics and vulnerabilities are the same ones that can show up in a work context: deceptive job offers, coercive control by supervisors or labour hire providers, threats about visas or deportation, withholding wages or documents, and isolating workers from support.
For organisations covered by Australia’s Modern Slavery Act – and for any employer concerned with ethical practice and legal risk – these findings should be...
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