The New Zealand Modern Slavery Bill is proposed legislation targeted at tackling modern slavery by increasing transparency and accountability for business in their operations and supply chains.
The phrase 'modern slavery' is a broad term with the intention to capture all forms of human exploitation, such as slavery, all forms of exploitation, trafficking, forced labour, debt-bondage and more.
The Bill was introduced in February 2026 as a cross-party Member’s Bill, and while all the above are broadly recognised in the Crimes Act there is currently no formal requirement for businesses around reporting or transparency with any of the above. Most OECD countries now so. Australia introduced their Act in 2018 accordingly.
As the Bill stands it would require businesses with a turnover $100mill/yr + which accounts for less than 3% of NZ industry to comply. So the implications may be limited to this sector and any others interested in ISO 37200 or have supply chain compliance requirements.
The Bill would require companies to publish an annual "modern slavery statement" which among other things would include:
- The operational set up of the business, structure, operations and supply chains;
- Any known or anticipated risks of modern slavery within its operations or supply chain;
- Details of any modern slavery incident or complaints within its operations or supply chain;
- Details of risk mitigation, remedial actions and prevention in those incidents or anticipated risks;
- An analysis of the success of any such actions;
- Any training the entity has provided to employees for identifying modern slavery
Such a statement needs to be published electronically by the entity and also submitted to the Registrar of modern slavery for inclusion on their website.
The Bill includes strong penalties for failures or breaches up to $600,000 and also makes management and directors personally liable.
The Bill is still in early stages having just passed its first reading in Parliament with broad cross-party support. It now goes to the Select Committee and public submissions will be allowed. Second and third readings would then need to pass before Royal Assent enacting it.