THE Foreign Affairs and Aid Sub-Committee of the Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade has tabled the final report for the Committee’s inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia.

The Committee’s report, Hidden in Plain Sight, makes 49 recommendations to improve Australia’s efforts to combat modern slavery here and around the world. Latest estimates suggest that over 40 million people around the world, including 4300 in Australia, are victims of some form of modern slavery, which includes human trafficking, slavery, debt bondage, forced labour and other slavery-like practices.

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government introduce a Modern Slavery Act in Australia similar to but improving on the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015. The Committee recommends that the proposed Act should establish an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and supply chain reporting requirements for entities operating in Australia. The Committee further recommends improvements to:

• support for victims (including a national compensation scheme);
• criminal justice responses (including training for frontline officials); and
• protections for workers vulnerable to exploitation (including changes to Australia’s visa framework and establishing a national labour hire licensing scheme).

The Committee heard particular concerns about ‘orphanage trafficking’ and also recommends a range measures to ensure that Australians do not perpetuate the exploitation of children in overseas orphanages through donations or tourism. This includes establishing a register of approved orphanages and a national awareness campaign on the risks of orphanage trafficking.

Chair of the Foreign Affairs and Aid Sub‑Committee, Mr Chris Crewther MP, said that “modern slavery describes some of the greatest crimes our time".

“This report highlights that modern slavery is often ‘hidden in plain sight’ across a range of industries in Australia and in the global supply chains of businesses and organisations operating here. An Australian Modern Slavery Act, as recommended by this report, will make a significant contribution to ensuring that, here in Australia, we are doing all we can to combat these crimes,” Mr Crewther said.  

The report is available from the Committee’s website: www.aph.gov.au/modernslavery.

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THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics today presented its Third Report on reforming the Australian banking sector.

The report builds on the suite of important reforms previously recommended by the committee, which have been broadly adopted by the Government.

Key reforms to date include putting in place a one-stop shop for consumer complaints, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority; a regulated Banking Executive Accountability Regime; and, new powers and resources for the ACCC to investigate competition issues in the setting of interest rates.

The Government also adopted the committee's recommendations to establish an open data regime and change the regulatory requirement for bank start-ups in order to encourage more competition in the sector.

The Committee’s Third Report makes the following recommendations to Government:

• If the banks do not act by 1 April 2018, regulatory action should be taken to ensure that merchants have the choice of how to process “tap and go” payments on dual network cards.  At present merchants are forced to process these transactions through schemes such as Visa and MasterCard rather than eftpos.  It is estimated that this forced processing costs merchants hundreds of millions of dollars in additional annual fees at present;
• The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, as a part of its inquiry into residential mortgage products, should assess the repricing of interest-only mortgages that occurred in June 2017;
• The Government should introduce legislation to mandate the banks’ participation in Comprehensive Credit Reporting as soon as possible; and
• The Attorney-General should review the major banks’ threshold transaction reporting obligations in light of the issues identified in the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre’s (AUSTRAC) case against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Committee Chair David Coleman MP said "the Committee continues to hold the major banks to account during these regular hearings.  We look forward to the Government’s response to the Committee’s new recommendations."

The report can be accessed from the Committee’s website. 

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THE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts today presented its report on the Australian film and television industry. The committee has made 13 recommendations to ensure the future growth and sustainability of this sector.

The key recommendations are:

• a single harmonised producer offset of 30% for all Australian screen productions which is a 50% increase in the current rebate for television programs and non-cinematic features;
• an increase in the location offset from 16.5% to 30% to ensure that Australia can effectively compete for large-scale international productions;
• that subscription video on demand companies invest part of their revenue earned in Australia in new Australian content;
• that children’s content quotas be reformed in light of current viewing trends but continue to require quality Australian programs for children to be available across all platforms, particularly live-action drama;
• that the Government consider replacing all or part of the current hours-based quotas for new children’s content with a contestable fund to create quality Australian children’s programs into the future;
• that a minimum hours-based quota for first release children’s content be included in the ABC charter and that SBS show a minimum of 50% Australian content across all of its channels;
• that 10% of Screen Australia’s funding be earmarked for productions filmed outside of the Sydney and Melbourne metropolitan areas;
• that the Government remove the unnecessary red-tape obligation to consult the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance before permitting a foreign actor to work in Australia.

The Chair of the committee, Luke Howarth MP, said, "Australia’s film and television industry makes very important cultural and economic contributions to the nation. These proposed reforms will greatly enhance the growth and sustainability of this industry into the future.

"Technological advances have significantly changed the way Australians now access their screen content and the policy settings need to be updated to reflect this," added Mr Howarth.

The report can be accessed from the Committee’s website. 

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THE Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters will hold its first public hearing on matters relating to Section 44 of Australia’s Constitution tomorrow.

Committee Chair Senator Linda Reynolds said the hearing will provide the Committee with the opportunity to consider the complexities surrounding Section 44 of the Constitution and the types of possible action that can lead to greater stability in our Parliamentary system.

“Australians need to be assured all members of parliament are constitutionally eligible to serve and they must also have confidence in the processes leading to parliamentarians’ election,” Senator Reynolds said.

The Terms of Reference are available on the Committee’s website.

Submissions are now open and will close on 9 February 2018.  

The Committee will hear evidence from the Australian Electoral Commission, the Attorney General’s Department, and professors Anne Twomey, Graeme Orr and George Williams AO.

Public hearing details: 9.00 a.m., Friday, 8 December 2017, Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live

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