It’s good news that most Australian retail investors would be prepared to accept lower financial returns in exchange for ethically and responsible corporate behaviour.

With the introduction of modern slavery legislation in Australia, the responsibility of boards just stepped into another complex area.

As of 1 January 2019 the clock started for business with directors accountable for annual public modern slavery statements that describe how the business is identifying and managing modern slavery risks

Even so, human rights violations continue and we now expect more of business, increasingly calling for greater accountability for non-financial risks.

The Modern Slavery Bill is important because it marks one further step towards the introduction of legislation which will require companies to annually report on how they are addressing the risk of modern slavery in their operations and supply chain.

Thousands of companies in Australia are going to have to consider how they manage the risk of modern slavery in their businesses after Minister Hawke introduced the Modern Slavery Bill 2018 to the floor of the Federal Parliament today.

Companies must become more pro-active in reshaping their procedures in addressing trust-related issues.

The introduction of modern slavery regulatory reporting in Australia will help those entities, that have not considered their human rights risks

Corporate responsibility (CR) reporting is now standard for large and mid-cap companies across the world – but Australia’s performance is plateauing, and needs to improve