Our obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (NSW)

Legal Aid NSW is committed to delivering against the objectives of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (NSW).

In line with the NSW Government’s ‘risk-based’ approach to identifying, managing and removing modern slavery from supply chains, we have an obligation to take ‘reasonable steps’ to ensure that goods and services procured by and for our use are not a product of modern slavery. By eliminating all aspects of modern slavery from NSW Government supply chains, we can use government buying power to move the dial on modern slavery.

The Anti-slavery Commissioner did not raise any issues related to our obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (NSW) with Legal Aid NSW in the 2022–23 reporting period.

Strengthening our compliance on modern slavery

As part of the Stronger Communities cluster procurement network, our chief procurement officers had the opportunity to meet with Commissioner Cockayne in 2022–23 to understand his priorities and incorporate them into our agency-level plans and strategies.

We have been taking direction from NSW Procurement about updates and changes we should make to our procurement policy and supporting framework to meet the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (NSW). Since the implementation of the Act, we have:

  • updated applicable procurement policy material, as well as supplier contract agreements, templates and tender documentation, to include modern slavery compliance considerations and ensure we are meeting our reporting obligations, and
  • monitored supplier segmentation activity, identified salient risks, and developed ongoing action, remediation and audit plans for high-risk suppliers.