The Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) requires any entity with consolidated annual revenue of at least $100 million AUD to submit a public annual statement describing how it identifies and addresses modern slavery risks in its operations and supply chains.1Modern Slavery in Australia. Modern Slavery Act The statement must cover seven mandatory criteria, be approved by the entity’s principal governing body, and be lodged within six months of the end of the reporting period. Non-compliance currently carries no fine, but the Minister can publicly name entities that fail to meet their obligations, and civil penalties have been agreed to in principle for a future amendment.
Who Has to Report
The reporting obligation applies to any Australian entity, and any foreign entity carrying on business in Australia, whose consolidated annual revenue reaches $100 million AUD.1Modern Slavery in Australia. Modern Slavery Act Consolidated revenue includes the entity’s own revenue plus the revenue of every entity it owns or controls. A corporate group therefore needs to assess the combined figure across its entire structure, not the standalone revenue of each subsidiary.
The Commonwealth is also caught. A single Commonwealth Modern Slavery Statement is submitted each year on behalf of all non-corporate Commonwealth entities, covering government procurement and operations.2Attorney-General’s Department. Modern Slavery Act
Entities below the threshold can opt in by submitting a voluntary statement, which some mid-sized companies do to demonstrate supply chain diligence to clients and investors. Once lodged, a voluntary statement is held to the same standards as a mandatory one.
New South Wales has a separate Modern Slavery Act 2018 (NSW) that took effect on 1 January 2022, but it applies to NSW government agencies, local councils, and state-owned corporations rather than to private businesses. Companies already reporting under the Commonwealth Act are not separately caught by the NSW scheme.
What the Statement Must Cover
Section 16 of the Act sets out seven mandatory criteria. Each has to be substantively addressed; treating them as headings to be acknowledged rather than answered is a common weakness in early statements.
- Identify the reporting entity.
- Describe the entity’s structure, operations, and supply chains.
- Describe the modern slavery risks within those operations and supply chains, including in any entities the reporter owns or controls.
- Describe the actions taken to assess and address those risks, such as due diligence processes, staff training, and remediation.
- Explain how the entity measures the effectiveness of those actions. This is the criterion most organisations struggle with; a general statement that “policies are in place” does not satisfy it.
- Describe the consultation process with any subsidiaries or controlled entities during preparation of the statement, or with other reporting entities where a joint statement is used.
- Provide any other information the entity considers relevant to help stakeholders understand its approach.
The statement must be approved by the entity’s principal governing body, such as the board of directors, and signed by a responsible member of that body. For joint statements covering a corporate group, each reporting entity covered must have been consulted during preparation.
Where and When to Submit
Approved statements are lodged through the Modern Slavery Statements Register at modernslaveryregister.gov.au, which is maintained by the Australian Government and open to the public.3Modern Slavery Statements Register. Modern Slavery Statements Register Consumers, investors, and civil society organisations can look up any entity’s statement and track how it changes year to year.
The deadline is six months after the end of the entity’s reporting period, so the actual due date depends on the financial year used:4Modern Slavery Statements Register. Implementing the Modern Slavery Act 2018
- Australian financial year (1 July to 30 June): statement due by 31 December.
- Calendar year (1 January to 31 December): statement due by 30 June.
- US federal fiscal year (1 October to 30 September): statement due by 31 March.
- UK or Japan financial year (1 April to 31 March): statement due by 30 September.
Joint Statements for Corporate Groups
A corporate group can submit a single joint statement rather than a separate filing from each subsidiary that crosses the threshold. This is a practical concession for multinational structures. The joint statement must describe the consultation process with every entity it covers, and each covered entity’s governing body should have been involved in preparation. A joint statement that fails to consult all covered entities may not satisfy the mandatory criteria.
What Happens If You Don’t Comply
The Act currently uses a graduated administrative approach rather than fines. If the Minister is satisfied that an entity has failed to comply, the Minister may issue a written request requiring the entity to explain the failure, undertake specified remedial action, or both. The entity has a minimum of 28 days to respond, and the Minister can grant extensions.
If the entity still does not comply with that request, the Minister may publish the entity’s identity and details of the failure on the register or in any other way the Minister considers appropriate. Published information can include the date of the original request, the remedial action sought, the deadlines missed, and the reasons for the finding of non-compliance. An entity that disagrees with the decision to publish can seek review through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Reputational pressure is the enforcement lever the Act relies on. Being publicly identified as non-compliant can affect investor confidence, customer loyalty, and business partnerships. Critics have argued this approach lacks teeth compared with regimes in other countries that impose financial penalties.
Reforms on the Way
A statutory review of the Act’s first three years, delivered in May 2023, produced 30 recommendations. The Australian Government released its response in December 2024, agreeing in full, in part, or in principle to 25 of them.2Attorney-General’s Department. Modern Slavery Act Several changes would reshape the compliance picture:
- Civil penalties, agreed to in principle, for failing to submit a statement, providing false information in a statement, and failing to comply with a request for remedial action. The Attorney-General’s Department is consulting on the details.
- A lower revenue threshold, reduced from $100 million to $50 million, which would bring substantially more organisations into the mandatory reporting regime.2Attorney-General’s Department. Modern Slavery Act
- A formal complaints mechanism allowing the public to raise concerns about an entity’s reporting compliance.
- Additional regulatory tools under consideration, including infringement notices, enforceable undertakings, and broader information-gathering powers.
None of these reforms have been enacted as of early 2026. Organisations sitting near the $50 million revenue mark should begin preparing for the possibility of mandatory reporting, and every reporter should expect enforcement to move from reputational pressure alone to direct financial consequences.
A Note on Criminal Penalties
The Modern Slavery Act 2018 is a transparency and reporting statute. It does not itself criminalise modern slavery. Slavery, servitude, forced labour, forced marriage, deceptive recruiting, debt bondage, and human trafficking are criminal offenses under Divisions 270 and 271 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), prosecuted separately. Slavery itself carries a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment.5Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. Human Trafficking and Slavery Meeting your reporting obligations under the Modern Slavery Act does not shield conduct that would breach the Criminal Code, and criminal liability for exploitation offenses runs independently of anything said or omitted in a modern slavery statement.