What just happened? 

The much anticipated Modern Slavery Bill, a member’s bill jointly sponsored by Greg Fleming MP (National) and Camilla Belich MP (Labour), which proposes a statutory framework to strengthen and coordinate actions to combat modern slavery, will be introduced to the House next week. This regime would require reporting entities to report on how they identify, address, mitigate, and remediate incidents of modern slavery within their operations and supply chains.

This development has been made possible by a change in the Standing Orders, the rules governing the procedure of the House, which now allows a member’s bill to bypass the usual ballot process if the bill has 61 or more non-executive members (i.e. MPs who are not Ministers) supporting the bill. A full list of the MPs supporting the Bill can be found here. 

This alert outlines the key features of the Modern Slavery Bill as currently drafted and the practical implications for organisations operating in New Zealand. 

What is modern slavery?

The term modern slavery is used to describe situations where coercion, threats or deception are used to exploit victims and undermine or deprive them of their freedom. Under the Bill, modern slavery is broadly defined as including conduct that constitutes:

• offences under sections 98, 98AA, 98D, or 207A of the Crimes Act 1961 (dealing in slaves, people smuggling, coerced marriage or civil union) and trafficking or conduct that would constitute such offences if it occurred in New Zealand; 
• the worst forms of child labour under ILO Convention No. 182;
• trafficking in persons as defined in the UN Protocol; and
• debt-bondage or serfdom, forced or exploitative labour, servitude, sexual exploitation, and slavery.

What does the Bill propose?

The Modern Slavery Bill is similar to Australia’s Modern Slavery framework by establishing reporting obligations. Under the Bill reporting entities must prepare an annual modern slavery statement detailing the entity’s structure and supply chains, any incidents or risks of modern slavery, the actions and due diligence steps taken to address them (including complaints, remediation, effectiveness assessments, training and consultation), and any other information prescribed by regulations.

However, the proposed regime would also differ from Australia in some material respects, including by introducing several key enhancements, most notably a comprehensive enforcement regime with criminal and civil penalties; director liability; and potential government procurement exclusions. Many of these enhancements reflect recommendations that came out of the 2023 Australian statutory review into Australia’s Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth).

The Bill also proposes annual reporting by the Government on progress towards combatting modern slavery, a greater role for the Human Rights Commission to combat modern slavery, and regular reviews of legislation, government policy, and other arrangements in place to support victims of modern slavery.

Who is covered by the reporting obligations?

An organisation with a consolidated revenue of $100 million or more in a reporting period that is either a New Zealand entity or an overseas company that carried on business in New Zealand will be covered by the reporting obligations. Whilst a different revenue threshold could be prescribed in regulations, the proposed $100 million is comparable to the Australian threshold of AUD $100 million.

The Bill applies to a broad range of entities, including companies, overseas companies, bodies corporate, corporations sole, trusts, partnerships, associations of persons, friendly societies, the Crown, departments, Offices of Parliament, Crown entities, and local authorities. In addition, any overseas company that carries on business in New Zealand during a reporting period will be captured as well as an entity that controls, directly or indirectly, an entity that meets the reporting criteria, which will also capture parent companies. 

What reporting obligations are being proposed?

Like the Australian Act, a reporting entity must prepare a modern slavery statement in respect of each 12-month reporting period. While the mandatory reporting criteria are closely aligned with the Australian requirements, they do differ by also focusing on actual incidents not just the risk of modern slavery occurring. It is proposed that a New Zealand modern slavery statement must include the following:

• the name of the reporting entity and a description of the structure, operations, and supply chains of the reporting entity (both domestic and international), including any entities owned or controlled by the reporting entity;
• a description of any modern slavery incident that has occurred within the operations and supply chains of the reporting entity and any entities owned or controlled by it;
• a description of any known or anticipated risks of modern slavery occurring within the operations and supply chains;
• a description of the actions taken to assess, prevent, address, mitigate, and remediate modern slavery and risks of modern slavery occurring, including due diligence and remediation processes;
• details of the number of complaints made to the reporting entity in relation to modern slavery, and any measures taken to investigate such complaints and to provide remediation for any incidents identified;
• a description of how the reporting entity assesses the effectiveness of actions taken and how any related processes or policies are being continually improved;
• a description of any training provided to the entity's employees (including employees of owned or controlled entities) and employees of any other entity in the reporting entity's supply chain in relation to identifying modern slavery; and
• a description of any consultation undertaken with these individuals.

A reporting entity must publish a copy of its modern slavery statement on its website for public inspection. As in Australia, an electronic register will also be established where submitted modern slavery statements will be freely available to the public to view. 

How will the Bill be enforced?

The Bill proposes a robust enforcement regime with criminal and civil penalties. This is where the New Zealand Bill significantly departs from the Australian Act, which currently has no penalties for non-compliance (although following the 2024 statutory review of the Australian Act the Commonwealth Government has agreed in principle to introduce penalties for non-compliance). 

Under the Bill it will be an offence for:

• a reporting entity to fail to comply with its obligation to prepare and submit a modern slavery statement, or to publish it on its website; and
• any person to knowingly make a false or misleading statement or knowingly provide false or misleading information in a modern slavery statement.

For both offences, the Bill proposes a fine not exceeding $200,000. In addition, the High Court can, upon request, order a reporting entity that is not a government agency to pay a financial penalty to the Crown, the maximum amount for this penalty being $600,000. 

Director liability

If a reporting entity is convicted of an offence, a director or person involved in the management of the reporting entity is guilty of the same offence if:

• it is proved that the act or omission that constituted the offence took place with their authority, permission, or consent; or
• that they knew, or could reasonably be expected to have known, that the offence was to be or was being committed and failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent or stop it.

Exclusion from public sector procurement 

The Bill would amend the Public Finance Act 1989 to prohibit the Crown from paying money to an entity that has been convicted of one of the above offences or ordered to pay a pecuniary penalty. The effect of this would be to prevent those entities that have been convicted of any offences under the Bill from participating in public sector procurement. 

What is missing from the Bill?

The proposed Modern Slavery Bill is comprehensive and for the reasons discussed above, goes further than its current Australian counterpart. But like with all political compromises some issues have been left out to be addressed for another day. One matter that has been omitted from the Bill is mandatory due diligence, which was included in the original consultation launched under the previous Labour Government. However, our view is the Bill incorporates mandatory reporting criteria that closely align with core modern slavery due diligence principles. The effect being it would be difficult for a reporting entity to comply with the mandatory reporting criteria without first having undertaken some level of due diligence into its operations and supply chains. 

Next steps

The Bill is scheduled to be introduced on 10 February 2026, it will then have its first reading and be referred to select committee for public consultation. This will give organisations and members of the public an opportunity to provide input on the Bill. Changes are likely to be made to the Bill as it goes through the parliamentary process. The MPs sponsoring the Bill are hopeful that the Bill will pass before the House rises for the election later in the year.

In the meantime, there are practical steps you can take now to address modern slavery risks, including mapping out your supply chain, undertaking a risk assessment of your operations and supply chain to identify modern slavery risks, developing modern slavery policies, frameworks, and supplier codes of conduct, considering and amending your procurement and supply agreements, developing due diligence, culture and corporate governance guidelines, and conducting awareness seminars for boards, executives, legal and procurement teams. For organisations already subject to the Australian regime, you should review whether your current reporting and due diligence processes will meet the requirements in New Zealand Bill, particularly around.

If you have any questions about the Modern Slavery Bill or would like assistance submitting on the Bill or preparing for its implementation, please contact one of our experts.

This article was co-authored by Danielle Cooper, a Senior Solicitor in our Corporate and Commercial team.