"From fashion to solar panels, taint of slavery stalks firms", 23 May 2023

[...]

The 2023 index estimated that 50 million people were living in modern slavery – either in forced labour or forced marriage – on any given day in 2021.

That was an increase of 20 per cent from the 2018 index, including a 173 per cent increase to 41,000 people within Australia – even though that was the year Australia legislated to force companies to report on forced labour in their supply chains.

Ms Forrest said [...] it was time for Australian businesses to face financial penalties if they did not meet their modern slavery reporting obligations.

“Modern slavery became a top-four board priority for the ASX 200 after the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act. No-one could say they’re not familiar with it, so why are we still seeing these increased rates?” she said.

[...]