Australia modern slavery law reforms

In mid‑July 2026 Australia announced a tightening of its Modern Slavery Act, introducing criminal liability and new civil penalties for large firms that fail to prevent forced labour in their overseas supply chains. The move was prompted by a United States warning that a tariff of up to 12.5 % could be applied to imports from around 60 countries, including Australia, if they did not address forced‑labour practices.

Two weeks later the U.S. Trade Representative implemented the threatened tariffs, adding Thailand to the list of countries subject to a 12.5 % duty on a range of products. In response, Australia’s Justice Department put forward further amendments to the 2018 Modern Slavery Act, raising the revenue threshold for criminal liability, extending the law’s extraterritorial reach and expanding penalties. Officials said the new proposals were directly motivated by the U.S. tariff actions, which highlighted gaps in Australia’s enforcement of forced‑labour import bans.