"A recent report from Walk Free shows that the Australian garment industry is failing to take modern slavery seriously", 4 March 2022

A recent report released by Walk Free [...] has disclosed [...] that in Australia alone, only 31% of companies and their respective statements meet the minimum approval requirements and reporting criteria. As well as this, only 61% of luxury companies have disclosed that their approach to modern slavery is informed by and tailored to meet the risks specific to the garment industry. This is surprising when compared to non-luxury companies who sit at 85%.

What's more is that Walk Free suspect that companies are treating these statements as merely a "box-ticking exercise", with only 65% disclosing that they have detected modern slavery risks. This skews data and Walk Free predicts that there are more incidents than what are being reported as companies are not being totally transparent.

As one could have predicted, the pandemic only exacerbated the risk of garment workers being exploited. [...] The Walk Free report found that workers bore the brunt of these losses, which for many meant wage cuts and cancelled contracts, or on the other hand, extended hours and being forced to work despite the risk of contracting Covid-19. On top of this, 43% of company statements did not detail any affirmative action taken to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on the supply chain and their workers.

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