Still image from China’s CCTV showing Muslim trainees in a garment factory in Xinjiang. Rex Patrick’s bill would prohibit the import of goods made using forced labour. It makes no specific reference to China. Photograph: AP Video
Independent Rex Patrick says the onus is now on the Coalition to allow the bill to clear the House of Representatives
Daniel Hurst Foreign affairs and defence correspondent
The Guardian, Aug 23 2021
The Morrison government faces growing pressure to tighten Australia’s customs laws after the Senate passed a bill to ban anyone from importing products made using forced labour.
On Monday the Senate passed a bill proposed by the independent senator, Rex Patrick, but for the measure to come into effect it would also have to clear the government-controlled lower house.
The Coalition did not support passage of the legislation through the Senate, even though at least one Liberal senator said it was “a bill worthy of consideration and support in principle”.
Patrick said the passage of the bill was “an important step forward in the international efforts to combat modern slavery”. He said the onus was now on the Coalition government to allow the bill to clear the House of Representatives.
“We can’t have the government dodge the issue by saying that they are conducting another review,” Patrick said. “Action is required within the life of this Parliament, indeed within this calendar year.”
The bill would amend the Customs Act to prohibit the importation into Australia of goods produced or manufactured, in whole or in part, through the use of forced labour.
There is no specific reference to China, despite concerns about human rights abuses in Xinjiang being the initial trigger for the proposal – and something that was mentioned repeatedly in Monday’s Senate debate.
The Liberal senator Eric Abetz told the Senate the Chinese Communist party was a “brutal dictatorship” and he backed Patrick’s bill in principle.
But Abetz called for more detailed scrutiny of the proposal, saying it could be difficult for the government and small business to fully understand the supply chain from where a product is originally sourced.
“If this bill were to go to a vote my heart would say ‘yes’ but my head would be saying ‘not yet’,” Abetz said.
Labor and the Greens were among the supporters of the bill. “Slavery is not a thing of the past,” the Greens senator Janet Rice said.
Earlier, Guardian Australia reported the bill was poised to pass the Senate.
