Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced the plan today. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The government is starting work on a supply chain register to crack down on modern slavery, but legislation will not be ready until after the election.
Under the public register, companies earning more than $20 million a year in revenue would need to report how they had tackled exploitation risks in their operations and supply chains.
It follows consultation from last year, and would meet requirements to tackle modern slavery laid out in the EU and UK free trade agreements.
However, the government said the drafting process beginning now was expected to take about six months - so legislation would not be ready to be introduced to Parliament until late January at the earliest, after the October election.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced the move on Friday afternoon at Air New Zealand's head office in Auckland, alongside Modern Slavery Leadership Advisory Group chair Rob Fyfe.
Carmel Sepuloni alongside Rob Fyfe at the announcement. Photo: RNZ / Felix Walton
The proposed legislation and register would be among the world's strongest reporting systems for tackling modern slavery which had ballooned globally from 40 million to 50 million people since 2016, she said, quoting estimates from the International Labour Organisation and Walk Free.
"It's vital we bring modern slavery practices out of the shadows and into the daylight so we can ensure workers are safe and treated with dignity," Sepuloni said.
"World Vision estimates Kiwi households inadvertently pay an average of $34 each week to industries whose products are implicated in modern slavery."
She said a lack of action would be detrimental to trade, and the legislation which businesses had told the government would be crucial could "level the playing field" for those businesses already committed to eradicating modern slavery from their supply chains.
The focus on larger organisations would strike a balance by not overburdening small businesses, she said, and the government would continue work on other ways to tackle modern slavery.
Fyfe, a former Air New Zealand chief executive who also chaired the Icebreaker clothing brand, said the proposal was a positive step forward for Kiwi businesses and New Zealand's trading reputation.
"More and more we are seeing consumers demanding transparency on the products they buy," he said. "The challenge consumers currently have is that there is no easy way to find out what's going on in the supply chains. There is no way to know what went into making the clothes they're wearing. This reporting system will help bring this information to the fore."
Companies with more than $20 million in revenue would be required to provide information to be put on the register, or face a fine ranging from $10,000 to $200,000.
But the onus would be on consumers to check the register and make their own decisions, Fyfe said.
"The consumer would [need to seek it out themselves]," he said. "But I think you're going to find intermediary organisations that then go and interrogate that, aggregate it, and then start publishing: this is who you should be dealing with, and this is who you shouldn't be dealing with."
Cross-party support expected
Sepuloni said it could be years before the legislation was finalised.
"All up, about three years," she estimated. "It takes a bit of time, because we've got to draft the legislation, introduce the legislation to the House, then it's got to go through the process, and then it's got to be enacted, then it's about a year from then."
That meant any final decisions would be left to the next government, but Sepuloni was hopeful the proposal had enough cross-party support to make it over the line.
"I've seen statements from some of the political parties, they seem very supportive so I hope that would be the case," she said. "Overwhelmingly, from what we've seen, businesses and New Zealanders in general support us doing something with respect to modern slavery, so you would hope the other political parties would."
Humanitarian organisation World Vision was supportive of the announcement.
"I think it's really promising," head of advocacy and justice Rebekah Armstrong said.
She was also confident the policy would be embraced in all corners of Parliament.
"I would be really surprised if there was a change of government and the [new] government opposed this," she said. "From what we understand, there are a few little details that might need to be ironed out, but I think that could definitely be done."