Addressing Modern Slavery Together

Catholic organisations participating in the Australian Catholic Anti-slavery Network (ACAN) must comply with Australia's Modern Slavery Act (MSA) 2018. This means actions must be taken to assess and address modern slavery risks to people in the supply chains and operations of Catholic entities. These actions must be published annually on the Commonwealth Government’s Modern Slavery Register as a Modern Slavery Statement.

Supply chains are complex, multi-tiered and may traverse multiple countries involving many people in the sourcing of raw materials, manufacturing, assembly, finishing and transport.

Temporary visa holders, migrants, refugees new arrivals, minorities, people who are stateless or not authorised to work are more vulnerable to abuse and therefore an at-risk work force especially in labour-hire.

Suppliers should expect ongoing and collaborative engagement from ACAN entities in relation to modern slavery risks especially in the following high-risk sectors:

1)    Building and construction;

2)    Medical consumables, devices and equipment

3)    Information and communications technology (ICT)

4) Facility management and property services

5) Cleaning and security services

6) Furniture and office supplies

7) Food and catering services

8) Uniforms and personal protective equipment (PPE)

9) Waste management services

10) Linen, laundry and textiles

What Can Suppliers Do?

  1. Designate a contact in your business for modern slavery and send their contact details to: info@acan.org.au

  2. Complete the ACAN Supplier survey (5-6 mins) which will help ACAN to assess your next steps:

  3. Enrol key staff in ACAN e-learning and keep completion certificates as evidence of modern slavery training for ACAN entities and other customers. If your business has large numbers of staff contact us about how we can make e-learning available to you on your own learning management system.

  4. Watch or attend an ACAN supplier webinar to understand ACAN entity obligations to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2018.

  5. Download the ACAN supplier powerpoint presentation and share with your staff to raise awareness and ensure expectations of the ACAN entity your business supplies to are understood.

  6. If requested, Join SEDEX as a Supplier Member, complete a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and connect to the ACAN entity you supply to. SEDEX can support you to be onboarded to their platform.

  7. Complete a Consent to be added to the ACAN Preferred Supplier Directory

  8. Building and construction suppliers download the Building Links toolkit for deployment on-site or contact us to learn more about how to partner.