Finally, we can address modern slavery

Together the National Party and the Labour Party are seeking to address the international problem with modern-day slavery, following the announcement in January of a joint modern slavery bill directly to the House, under Standing Order 277. The legislation is co-sponsored by Labour’s Camilla Belich and National’s Greg Fleming who in 2025 each introduced a private members bill, resulting in two very similar bills in the parliamentary biscuit tin.

This will be the first time the requisite 61 support threshold has been achieved, a rare display of cross-party agreement. This allows the bill to go straight to its first reading, bypassing the traditional, slow biscuit tin ballot process. The question now is how to ensure legislation is effectively implemented.

Calls for legislative action on modern slavery stretch back almost 20 years. The calls started in 2007, when Trade Aid presented a ‘Slavery Still Exists’ petition to Parliament in an attempt to expand prohibitions on prison labour-made goods to include products made by slave labour. This attempt failed. More recently Trade Aid worked with World Vision in 2020 presented a 37,000-signature petition to the New Zealand Government urging the introduction of modern slavery legislation. World Vision has subsequently become a leading advocate in this area.

In July 2023, the previous Labour government announced it would begin drafting modern slavery legislation. Its defeat in the 2023 election brought this work to a halt before any legislation was introduced.

Belich and Fleming’s bills are not the first private member bills. Both former Labour MPs Maryan Street and Peeni Henare sought to amend the Customs and Excise Act to prohibit the import of goods produced by slave labour, but both their bills were voted down at their first reading in 2009 and 2016 respectively. Under the previous National government MP Simon O’Connor lodged a private members bill on the matter.

Investors representing billions in assets have also publicly called on the Government to introduce modern slavery legislation. In September 2025, a coalition of 28 institutional investors and New Zealand businesses released a joint call for the Government to act on modern slavery legislation, emphasising its importance for ethical supply chains and competitiveness.

The business case for action is undeniable: companies with robust supply chain oversight face lower reputational and operational risks, whereas those without face significant exposure.

The question is no longer whether we need legislation, but how effectively we can implement it.

The legislation New Zealand adopts must consider standards already implemented by our trading partners. In an interconnected global economy, regulatory alignment is essential.

We need to learn from what others have done and build a strong piece of legislation. It is important for instance to ensure legislation includes a robust due diligence component. Both the UK and Australian modern slavery legislation are reporting regimes – where the obligation is to report, not necessarily to act. In contrast, for example, France and Germany have human rights due diligence where companies must identify, prevent, mitigate, and remedy human rights harms. Human rights due diligence laws impose substantial obligations on companies with civil liability (France) or fines (Germany) for non-compliance.

Strong human rights due diligence following international best practice means assessing potential risks and taking action that matches the level of threat identified.

These processes must be substantive rather than symbolic; human rights due diligence is not intended as a voluntary exercise or an opportunity for promotion of corporate values.

Companies should demonstrate active monitoring programmes, detail their efforts to identify risks in less proximate supply chain participants, and explain concrete actions taken when modern slavery occurs or appears likely. Reports must show both prevention strategies and remediation efforts for affected individuals.

The trajectory is clear: modern slavery legislation is much closer to being a reality in New Zealand. Although such laws alone will not eliminate modern slavery entirely, they remain a critical tool in the fight. Both the United Kingdom and Australia have reviewed their respective reporting legislation, with ongoing debates about whether to maintain transparency-based approaches or move toward mandatory due diligence requirements.

We can learn from these jurisdictions’ experiences and introduce stronger legislation from the outset. But this will only happen if we ensure the legislative process is as robust as possible.

The time for delay has passed, but the time for careful deliberation has not. During the parliamentary process, we need to help shape legislation that is as strong and effective as possible. At the moment the Government is proposing a $100 million threshold meaning that only entities with annual consolidated revenues of $100m or more would be required to report. This is a much higher threshold than the $50m proposed under the previous Labour government and therefore will capture fewer companies.

New Zealand must join the international community in holding businesses accountable for the human cost of their supply chains, but we must do so with our eyes open to both the potential and the limitations of legislative solutions.

The question is no longer whether we will act, but whether we will act wisely.