Australia
IJM Welcomes Initial Slavery and Trafficking Commitments, Calls for Ongoing Attention in the Election
28 March 2025
With Prime Minister Albanese announcing this morning that Australians will head to the polls on 3 May 2025, anti-slavery charity International Justice Mission Australia has called on politicians of all persuasions to commit to action on modern slavery and human trafficking.
IJM Australia CEO David Braga welcomed the commitments made thus far and said that this Federal Election campaign provides additional opportunities for leadership.
“In challenging economic and geopolitical times, Australia must stand firm as a leader in our region committed to supporting our neighbours to protect people in poverty from violence,” Mr Braga said.
IJM Australia hopes to see further justice system strengthening efforts in the Indo Pacific.
Specifically, funding provided through the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Abuse should contribute to countering the online sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines. As the third highest perpetrator country1, Australia has a moral obligation to help address this crime in the Philippines, and Australian research into this crime both in the Philippines and other emerging hot spots will be critical to effectively guiding further action.
Efforts to disrupt transnational crime should include a focus on offshore scams targeting Australians through the Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre.
Whilst funding for international development increased by $135.8 million in this year’s Federal Budget to $5.1 billion, it has unfortunately fallen to its lowest ever level as a percentage of the overall Budget – from 0.68% to 0.65%.
IJM Australia supports calls from the aid and development sector to major parties to provide a pathway to restore Australia’s aid program to 1% of the Federal Budget, making the world a safer place for all.
“It is unclear what proportion of Australia’s foreign aid budget will go to addressing slavery and trafficking in the Asia Pacific region, which is host to more than half of the global total of people held in modern slavery.”
“An estimated 17 million people are held in forced labour slavery in our region and yet there were no new funding announcements explicitly addressing this human rights crisis in this federal aid budget.2”
“As a good neighbour, we have capacity and capability that countries in our region would benefit from. IJM Australia calls on all parliamentarians to prioritise initiatives to counter slavery and trafficking in our region this Federal Election and beyond,” Mr Braga said.
“The Albanese Government and Dutton Coalition have both included important commitments to support action against modern slavery and human trafficking in their Budget addresses and election platforms. There is still however work that must be done on all sides to protect the most vulnerable from these transnational crimes in our region.”
IJM Australia welcomed Labor’s Budget commitments this week, including:
- $21.2m for the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Abuse.
- $51.3m for the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission to disrupt transnational, serious and organised crime.
- $6.7m for the National Anti-Scam Centre.
- $1m for the Attorney-General’s Department to provide grants for community-based projects to prevent modern slavery.
In addition to Labor’s recent policy commitments, including:
- A strengthened MoU between eSafety and the AFP to respond to instances of online child sexual exploitation.
- A commitment to legislating a digital duty of care in the Online Safety Act.
IJM Australia also welcomed the Coalition’s commitments to:
- Work closely with our Pacific family and Southeast Asian neighbours to secure a safe and prosperous region.
- Double the size of the AFP’s Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.
IJM Australia is calling on all parliamentarians to:
- Commit to a digital duty of care to require tech companies to prevent child sexual abuse material on Australian screens.
- Increase support for law enforcement to protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse in our region.
Media: Briony Camp │ [email protected] │ 0468 308 696
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