The Modern Slavery Act
The Modern Slavery Act 2018 (the Act) has established Australia’s national modern slavery reporting requirement.
‘Modern slavery’ describes situations where coercion, threats or deception are used to exploit victims and undermine or deprive them of their freedom. The Act defines modern slavery as including eight types of serious exploitation: trafficking in persons, slavery, servitude, forced marriage, forced labour, debt bondage, deceptive recruiting for labour or services, and the worst forms of child labour.
It is important to emphasise that modern slavery is only used to describe serious exploitation that involves the loss of freedom.
Modern slavery does not include practices like substandard working conditions or underpayment of workers. However, these practices are also illegal, harmful, and may be present in some situations of modern slavery.
RMIT’s approach to addressing Modern Slavery
At RMIT we are committed to identifying and addressing modern slavery risk across our own operations and contributing to global efforts where its presence may be obscured in supply chains. We are a values-led University, focused on making a positive contribution within the local and global communities where we operate, so this is fundamental.
As a signatory to the UN Global Compact – RMIT must operate in ways that, at a minimum, meet fundamental responsibilities in the areas of human rights (including modern slavery), labour, environment and anti-corruption.
We take modern slavery risk seriously and acknowledge our responsibility to play our part toward its long-term eradication. As a global tertiary education institution, we also have a unique opportunity to make a difference through our research and innovation capabilities. As a result, it is incumbent on us to use our expertise and influence to educate and inform on human rights issues across business more broadly.
In responding to our reporting obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) (the Act), RMIT publishes an annual statement for submission to the Australian Government’s online Modern Slavery Statements Register. RMIT’s awareness and actions to address modern slavery are maturing, as we strengthen our approach each reporting period. Copies of our statements are linked below:
For more information email sustainability.committee@rmit.edu.au
Modern Slavery Working Group
The RMIT Sustainability Committee has the responsibility and oversight for the coordination of sustainability initiatives across all areas of the University. Its goal is to ensure sustainability principles and practices are embedded within the University’s core teaching and learning, research, governance and operational activities.
The Modern Slavery Working Group is a formal sub-group of the RMIT Sustainability Committee. The Working Group supports the ongoing development of governance frameworks, systems and processes to ensure compliance obligations are met, that our actions are effective and that plans are in place to continuously improve.
The Working Group has developed a detailed Modern Slavery Roadmap, with assistance from external business and human rights advisors. This roadmap provides a suite of applied practical actions the University can take over the next three years to maximise our effectiveness by further enhancing our modern slavery response.
The actions were developed through consultation with key business units and sit across the following categories:
- Policy commitment
- Identifying and assessing risks
- Integrating responses and addressing risks
- Tracking effectiveness
- Communicating actions, and
- Grievance mechanisms and remediation
The roadmap aligns with the expectations for business to respect human rights set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The Working Group proactively monitors the roadmap implementation progress to track our effectiveness.
RMIT’s Policy Response
Modern slavery clauses have already been embedded into relevant policies, contracts and procurement processes, for example:
The RMIT Sustainability Policy (2024-29) states:
- Behave as a socially responsible organisation – considering whole of lifecycle impacts and prioritising overall sustainability merit where it outweighs minor, short-term impacts or higher upfront costs to drive positive impacts for communities and the environment.
- Ensure our strategies, processes, supply chains and partnerships meet fundamental responsibilities in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption to achieve a culture of integrity.
- Assess and address the risks of modern slavery in our operations and supply chains through due diligence and remediation processes, as well as implementing tools to assess the effectiveness of these actions.
The RMIT Procurement and Expenditure Policy (2022-27) states:
- The purpose of this policy is to ensure all procurement and expenditure activities support RMIT’s strategic objectives, comply with legislative and regulatory requirements, and include consideration of quality, service, environmental and social impacts.
- RMIT’s expenditure on third party goods or services is subject to Australian Commonwealth laws, including the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth).
- RMIT is committed to the triple bottom line approach regarding environmental, social and financial sustainability. All procurement decisions will take account of RMIT’s responsibilities and obligations regarding labour and human rights principles, including the risk of modern slavery in supply chains.
The RMIT Supplier Code of Conduct states:
- RMIT believes that all workers in its operations and supply chain deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Suppliers are required to provide a fair and ethical workplace which upholds human rights (including anti-modern slavery) and labour rights, integrating appropriate policies and practices into its business.
- Suppliers must have adequate and reasonable policies, controls, procedures and training designed to prevent, detect, assess, manage and remedy adverse human rights impacts or human rights breaches in their operations and supply chains.
- Suppliers are expected to commit to due diligence activities to identify, prevent and mitigate modern slavery risk.
- Suppliers must ensure that their workers have freedom of association and collective bargaining.
- Suppliers must not engage in any labour hire practices that involve force, compulsion or child labour.
- Suppliers must provide goods and services in a manner consistent with all applicable human rights obligations.
- Suppliers must manage and monitor their supply chains to minimise human rights, labour, environment and bribery/corruption risks.
For more visit our sustainable procurement page.
RMIT’s Business and Human Rights Centre
The Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRIGHT), located in RMIT’s College of Business and Law, addresses the human rights impact of business through research, education, innovation and collaboration. BHRIGHT is the first centre for business and human rights in Australia, running masterclasses, consultancies and design labs to generate and share innovation and train current and future leaders to develop and integrate human rights standards in their respective industry contexts.
BHRIGHT proactively participates in law reform and public policy debates and conducts empirical studies to build evidence of human rights and business impact. This amplifies the voices of affected communities and workers through a range of conceptual frameworks and methods to develop solutions for a future that is fairer, more equitable and sustainable.
