A bill that would force large companies to report on forced labor in their supply chains has cleared another hurdle in New Zealand.
New Zealand’s Modern Slavery Bill, which was introduced in January, has gotten further than previous attempts at such a framework. After successfully passing its first reading in Parliament, the Education and Workforce Select Committee is recommending that the legislation be passed into law. It is now heading toward a second reading in Parliament. Its backers want to see it passed before elections in November.
What the bill would do
The Bill is sponsored by National MP Greg Fleming and Labour MP Camilla Belich. It has support from every party in Parliament except one—rare cross-party consensus for a member’s bill. It’s also the first bill introduced under a new rule that lets it skip the ballot process entirely.
RNZ reports,
“It would require firms making more than $100 million per year to report on supply chains and operations, among other measures.“
Companies that don’t comply face civil penalties of up to $600,000. Additionally, directors and senior managers can be held personally liable for material breaches or for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent slavery in their operations.
However, the Bill is far from perfect. It relies on public disclosure rather than mandatory action: companies report on the risk of modern slavery in their supply chains and the steps they’ve taken to assess, prevent, address, mitigate, and remediate it. This approach aligns with the UK and Australia’s Modern Slavery Acts, which have proven far from effective at driving change. Critics identified this weakness when the government first floated a disclosure-only version of this law.
New Zealand still “well behind other countries”
This is the closest New Zealand has come to such a framework. Previous attempts at modern slavery legislation have been stalled for years. Besides rare bipartisan support, there’s outside pressure pushing it along too: New Zealand is among the countries facing the new US forced labor tariffs for failing to ban imports made with forced labor.
Rebekah Armstrong, head of advocacy and justice at World Vision New Zealand, sees the Bill’s progress as a huge milestone. She thinks New Zealand is still “well behind other countries.” However, she believes real impact will come down to what companies do after they’ve disclosed a risk. Disclosure itself is not enough. “I think in New Zealand we have a bit of a name and shame culture and I’m really hoping that can turn around and we have a name and fame culture. Because what we’re really wanting to encourage is businesses to publicly disclose their modern slavery risks and then address what they’re finding,” she said.
New Zealand’s Bill is a step forward, but disclosure alone won’t stop exploitation in supply chains. It takes mandatory due diligence with real consequences for companies that look away. Sign our petition calling for strong, mandatory human rights due diligence legislation that puts people before profit.
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