Two modern slavery bills in the Parliamentary ballot: Politicians this is our chance to put progress before politics  

Imagine being forced to work because you’re afraid of the consequences if you say no. That's the reality for an estimated 27.6 million people around the world today. It’s called forced labour and it’s a form of modern-day slavery. Modern-day slavery is a term we use to refer to situations of exploitation that a person can’t refuse or leave because of violence, coercion, or deception.  

Some of those 27.6 million individuals in forced labour make or grow products that we buy, use and eat everyday here in Aotearoa. Bananas, flat whites, t-shirts, and laptops have all been linked to the exploitation of men, women and children.  

Whilst other countries around the world are starting to take extensive action to tackle this serious injustice, like banning imports from certain at-risk geographies, or mandating businesses to take greater action to address this issue in their supply chains, Aotearoa lags behind. The 2024 Trafficking in Person’s Report gave Aotearoa a low Tier 2 ranking, signalling that we’re not meeting baseline requirements to tackle the exploitation of people. 

Almost everyone agrees that Aotearoa needs to do more to counter forced labour and exploitation in our supply chains and beyond. This includes our two major political parties, National and Labour. And yet, the latest announcements from these two parties leave us concerned that party politics may override our progress to end modern slavery. 

Two bills in the Parliamentary Ballot shows us that cross-party support for tackling exploitation exists, now we need cross-party action! Photo: @xfly / Pexels

A surge of activity, but is it progress?  Two bills, two parties, one shared goal  

In April, National Party MP Greg Fleming placed the Modern Slavery Reporting Bill into the Parliamentary ballot. His private members’ bill seeks to introduce a requirement for large businesses to report on modern slavery risk factors in their supply chain, and their efforts to address these risks.  

And then, in July, Labour Party MP Camilla Belich placed the Modern Slavery Bill into the Parliamentary ballot. Belich’s private member’s bill takes a more comprehensive approach to tackling exploitation, including giving more protections to victim-survivors and establishing an Anti-Slavery Commissioner here in Aotearoa.  

Aotearoa needs a suite of legislative changes to strengthen our response to exploitation, trafficking and slavery.  A modern slavery reporting bill, like that proposed in Fleming’s bill is one slice of the legislative reform pie. Belich’s bill is a slightly bigger slice of that pie.

The long road of Private Member’s Bills 

These two bills sound like positive steps forward, and they are, but the fact they’re private members’ bills means progress from here is likely to be slow.    

Private Members’ bills are placed into a ballot (a literal biscuit tin in Aotearoa). Bills are then drawn out at random, when there’s space on the Order Paper on a Member’s Day.  Each bill has only a 3–5% chance of being drawn in the ballot - unless, and here’s the kicker, 61 non-ministers back it. In that case, it skips the queue entirely and goes straight through to the Parliamentary Order Paper. To get 61 non-ministers to endorse a bill requires cross-party support, meaning political parties agreeing to collaborate to expediate the process. This signals an issue like exploitation is too important to be a political football.   

There’s still a chance that either (or both) Belich’s or Fleming’s proposed bill will get drawn, but cross-party collaboration would enable one of the bills to bypass the luck-dependent delays of the ballot process and help ensure strong support through the bill’s first and second reading.   

Private Members’ bills are drawn from a literal biscuit tin – a quirky but important way new laws can begin their journey through Parliament.

Why aren’t National and Labour working together?  

While neither bill is the ‘silver bullet’ we’ve been waiting for, they are a tangible opportunity for change to happen now. We’re concerned that party politics could stand in the way, but we sincerely hope that won’t be the case. Delaying progress would be disappointing for the people currently enduring some of the worst forms of exploitation, and disappointing for those who have advocated long and hard for change.   

Our focus, and the focus of our political parties, must remain on these individuals; the woman whose passport has been taken and is forced to work, the child who’s still stitching clothes for export, the man working 18-hour days at sea for little pay.   

National + Labour, it’s time to put people before politics 

Fleming and Belich have both publicly signalled a willingness to work together. We all agree that Aotearoa needs strong, enforceable legislation to help address exploitation.   

National and Labour, let’s put politics aside. After so many years of parliamentary discussion, it’s time to move beyond words. Back one bill, and let’s finally get it done - together.