This interview about how Australians are unwittingly contributing to modern slavery originally aired on ABC Radio Australia. Featured guests included Nick Grono, CEO of the Freedom Fund, and Andrew Forrest, philanthropist and founder of the Walk Free Foundation. To listen to the radio interview, click here.
It might be surprising to discover there are more than 4,300 slaves in Australia today and tens of millions more around the world.
We eat the food they grow, use the phones they’ve mined rare earth elements for and sleep in the cotton they’ve grown — and it’s work they usually haven’t been paid for.
It’s an issue the Federal Government has been trying to address this year, with a 10-month parliamentary inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act. Imogen Brennan has this report.
Find the list of the full recommendations for a Modern Slavery Act here.
Listen to the radio interview.
Guests
Nick Grono
CEO, The Freedom Fund
Margaret Stuart
Head of Corporate Affairs, Nestle Oceania
Vanessa Zimmerman
Chair of the Human Rights Leadership Group for the Global Compact Network Australia and Group Human Rights Advisor at Rio Tinto
Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest
Chairman, Fortescue Metals Group
Chris Crewther
Federal member for Dunkeley; Chair of the Foreign Affairs and Aid Sub-Committee
Credits
Producer Imogen Brennan
Photo credit: Igor Ovsyannykov/Public Domain
