National, Labour MPs to work together to break slavery law impasse

Wednesday, 27 August 2025

Modern slavery is a term used to cover some grim forms of exploitation in factories and on farms, including bonded and forced labour.

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Consensus between National and Labour that New Zealand needs modern slavery business reporting laws has resulted in a Parliamentary impasse.

However, two MPs from the rival parties hope to make progress within weeks.

Labour MP Camilla Belich, and National MP Greg Fleming both have modern slavery reporting bills entered into the private members’ ballot.

Their bills seek to emulate the laws of major trading partners like Australia, the European Union, Canada and the United Kingdom, where larger companies have to audit their supply chains annually to ensure they are not tainted by modern slavery, a term that includes bonded and forced labour.

But despite Fleming and Belich having the blessing of their parties’ caucuses to table their bills, both MPs need them to be drawn from the random ballot of members’ bills to be debated by Parliament.

That’s because either MP can invoke the “Rule of 61” under which a members’ bill supported by 61 or more non-executive MPs is introduced directly to the House. Labour has 34 MPs and National has 30 non-executive MPs as well as 19 ministers.

The problem is that both parties are heavily whipped, the two MPs say, meaning MPs need permission to support a members bill from an MP from another party.

The Human Rights Commission says New Zealand's current work visa scheme may be facilitating human trafficking and modern slavery

But Fleming and Belich said they were in talks with their caucuses to find a way through the impasse.

“We are having that dialogue with our respective caucus to come up with an agreement,” Fleming said.

“It’s a live discussion,” he said, and hoped a resolution would be found over the next few weeks.

Belich said it appeared there was consensus on the need for modern slavery laws between National and Labour, including at the highest levels of the National Party.

“It would be great to see some action from the prime minister on this considering he has said it’s so important to him,” said Belich.

That was a reference to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s statement to media in 2022 that he would “march in the street” for modern slavery laws.

The lack of modern slavery reporting laws, which would require larger businesses with revenues of $50 million or more to audit their supply chains annually in a bid to identify and eradicate modern slavery, has been increasingly seen as an embarrassment to the country.

That was apparent at the United Nations Business and Human Rights Regional Forum for Australia and New Zealand being held in Melbourne on Tuesday and Wednesday, which was dominated by Australian companies and politicians.

Rebekah Armstrong, World Vision’s head of advocacy and justice, described the forum as a wake-up call for New Zealand, which had fallen behind Australia.

Fleming said World Vision, along with Tearfund, had been putting pressure on MPs to get the Government to act, saying in recent weeks they had organised for supporters to write letters and emails to their local MPs.

“Most MPs would have received dozens, if not hundreds, Fleming said.

Belich’s bill is more extensive than Fleming’s. It aimed to create a “fit-for-purpose statutory framework to support actions taken to combat modern slavery”, including creating the role of a national anti-slavery commissioner charged with checking up on companies’ audits, and well as shining a spotlight on modern slavery and human trafficking within New Zealand’s own borders.

Australia’s anti-slavery commissioner Chris Evans is one of the speakers at the UN forum in Melbourne.

Many larger companies operating in New Zealand including Fonterra, supermarkets, banks and insurers, are already caught under Australian and European modern slavery laws, and so already publish annual reports on their activities.

Both Belich and Fleming have had success in getting MPs from other parties to back law change they pushed for.

In March, Belich’s members bill criminalising wage theft by employers became law with the backing of NZ First.

And earlier this month, Fleming’s bid to increase penalties for human trafficking, and to make it easier to prosecute traffickers was adopted by the Government.

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