Fortescue and Wesfarmers were among the Western Australian ASX 100 companies which provided the most comprehensive statements to the modern slavery register.
Fortescue Metals Group and Wesfarmers were among the Western Australian ASX100 companies which provided the most comprehensive statements to the modern slavery register, according to research from Monash University.
According to Minderoo Foundation’s modern slavery arm Walk Free, modern slavery impacts 40.3 million people globally and includes forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, slavery and human trafficking.
After the Modern Slavery Act 2018 was introduced, companies which earn more than $100 million in revenue must provide the government with a modern slavery statement.
The first rounds of statements were provided to the government from late last year, after all companies were given an extension from the original June 2020 deadline.
Monash University analysed the statements submitted by the companies which make up the ASX 100 and gave each a score out of 100.
It found the statements submitted greatly varied in quality.
Businesses operating in the materials, real estate and utilities provided the best statements while healthcare companies scored low for struggling to describe their supply chain, modern slavery risk and assessment of effectiveness.
Supermarket retailer Woolworths was ranked as producing the best statement with a score of 85.01, followed by WA companies Fortescue Metals Group (84.96) and Wesfarmers (83.48).
Other WA companies to make the top 25 include Woodside Petroleum in 12th (70.04), South32 in 20th (67.68) and Origin Energy, which ranked 21st with a score of 66.78.
No WA-based companies were listed in the bottom 25.
Good statements included a clear description of a company’s supply chain; detailed information about its employees; clear scoping of risk of modern slavery; a systematic approach to assess supplier risks; information on audits completed, issues identified and a plan for future audits; and a clear set of KPIs for effective assessment.
Common issues in low-ranking statements included an unclear description of a governance structure to mange modern slavery risks; an incomplete picture of how the company assesses its effectiveness in determining its risk to modern slavery; and limited description of remediation processes.
Monash University lead researcher Nga Pham said the findings identified large companies with large employee numbers and big supply spends scored well overall on modern slavery discourse quality.
“Of the top companies we identified with the best scores, these companies had made managing modern slavery risks a priority,” Dr Pham said.
“This meant that they were transparent in how they assess and address the risk of modern slavery practices in their operations and supply chains and monitor such actions against the mandatory criteria outlined by the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act.
“It’s important to note that this is the first year that ASX companies have had to report on modern slavery and based on our findings we expect that majority of these companies will take action and improve their disclosure quality in the next financial year.”
To find out more about modern slavery statements, read Business News’s latest magazine.
