Tag Archives: social impact

New Research on Modern Slavery and Survivor-Centered Remedies

Modern slavery frequently slip beneath the surface of mainstream business discourse. This article, “Humanizing supply chains: Turning the spotlight towards remediation in modern slavery scholarship,” investigates the importance of designing meaningful processes to help victims of exploitative working conditions. Governments have begun to impose additional legislative responsibilities on organisations, but such efforts often fail to prompt the deep-rooted changes that are urgently required. Indeed, the UK and Australian Modern Slavery Acts have shown little traction in producing robust survivor-centered remedies and mechanisms, underscoring the necessity for more thorough interventions.

Against this backdrop, our article explores how firms and entire supply chain networks can craft strategies that do more than merely satisfy legal requirements. We recognise that victim-survivors are often left marginalised, both by the cruelty of modern slavery itself and by well-meaning initiatives that fail to holistically address the dimensions of exploitation. To counteract this, we emphasise the importance of cross-disciplinary collaborations among supply chain scholars, legal experts, technology specialists, and non-governmental organisations. By joining forces, each perspective can shed new light on persistent blind spots and collectively foster restorative measures that actually matter.

We also highlight the need for real engagement with the lived experiences of workers previously ensnared by modern slavery, rather than seeing them as faceless statistics. When unethical labour is uncovered, there must be a concerted push toward sustainable solution-building that provided long-term solutions to structural issues. Businesses that genuinely confront these problems, rather than seeking to terminate contracts and walk away, are more likely to see improvement and earn trust from partners and the public. A proactive stance that embraces data-driven detection tools, thorough due diligence, and open collaborations with local stakeholder groups can help set a new standard.

Ultimately, the challenge lies in going beyond superficial compliance. It is about turning modern slavery into an urgent, shared concern that compels practical and immediate action. In our article, we strive to reorient the conversation around these needs and point researchers toward the gaps that must be addressed next. With the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive coming into force, companies will face increased scrutiny, but we believe it is the human element—the individual voices and stories behind the term “modern slavery”—that must guide scholarship and practice moving forward.

Public Procurement and Social Impact in New South Wales

Associate Professor Chris F. Wright and I presented evidence at the “Inquiry into the Procurement Practices of Government Agencies in New South Wales and its Impact on the Social Development of the People of New South Wales”.

Public procurement represents a substantial portion of the economy and provides a unique opportunity to drive significant social and economic benefits. The power of public procurement can – and indeed should be – harnessed to promote decent work, local employment, and sustainable development.

Our submission makes several key recommendations aimed at enhancing the social and economic impact of government procurement:

Establish Centralised Procurement Oversight: We propose the creation of a centralised authority dedicated to overseeing procurement across all government departments and agencies.

Lower Threshold for Contract Disclosure: To enhance transparency and public trust, we recommend lowering the disclosure threshold for government contracts from $150,000 to $10,000, similar to the Commonwealth level.

Prioritise Local Suppliers: We suggest the implementation of a local procurement policy which prioritizes local suppliers, fostering regional economic development.

Social Procurement Clauses: Introducing social procurement clauses to help ensure that businesses providing secure, well-compensated jobs are eligible for government contracts.

Supplier Debarment: To maintain high ethical standards, we recommend the introduction of a supplier debarment regime, to exclude suppliers found guilty of dishonest, unfair, or illegal conduct from government contracts.

Other Key Takeaways From the Hearing:

  • Current procurement oversight ineffective due to lack of expertise and transparency issues, enforcement of anti-slavery policies in supply chains inadequate due to lack of follow-up and operationalisation. Expertise and capability building needed for enforcing social dimensions of contracts.
  • Strengthening worker representation in procurement ensures fair labour practices. Worker representation mechanisms can improve employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity, with positive impacts on procurement outcomes.
  • Government procurement can play a crucial role in creating an effective skills ecosystem. In Switzerland, procurement policies that give preferential treatment to firms with training apprentices increase the number of firms offering training without compromising quality.
  • Unions can play a positive role, as evidenced by studies showing improved training quantity and quality in countries with strong union presence. Unions have positive impact on productivity, worker wellbeing, and social benefits.
  • Value for money in NSW procurement often interpreted as price alone, despite social and economic benefits being important factors.
  • New South Wales government should require contractors to demonstrate compliance with work health and safety regimes.