Submission on A Legislative Response to Modern Slavery and Worker Exploitation

Summary 

• The Salvation Army Te Ope Whakaora strongly supports the objective of the legislative proposal to “reduce modern slavery and worker exploitation in New Zealand and elsewhere, helping to build practices based on fairness and respect”. 
• We support legislation that covers international and domestic supply chains in this country and includes all businesses, organisations and other entities regardless of size and inclusive of both private sector and public sector bodies. 
• We support legal requirements for active due diligence by entities that requires them to identify risks and cases of modern slavery and exploitation and takes action to address them. This should also include public reporting on actions taken and their impact. 
• We support active work to ensure compliance with legislation with meaningful penalties for non-compliance and active enforcement process from government regulators. This is essential to ensure fairness towards businesses who take action to comply and ensure a ‘level playing field’ 

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