'Debt bondage' and 'servitude': report reveals temporary workers vulnerable to modern slavery

Farmer man harvesting oranges in an orange tree field

A landmark report into modern slavery in New South Wales has found temporary workers in rural and regional parts of the state are being exploited. Credit: KOSOL TAERATTANACHAI

A landmark report into modern slavery in New South Wales has found temporary workers in rural and regional parts of the state are being exploited.


Key Points
  • A landmark modern slavery report, by the New South Wales Anti-slavery Commissioner Dr James Cockayne, has exposed practices of exploitation suffered by temporary migrant workers in rural and regional parts of the state.
  • The Attorney General's Department defines modern slavery as situations where offenders use coercion, threats or deception to exploit victims and undermine their freedom.
  • It found that temporary workers in agriculture, horticulture and meat processing industries were confronting modern slavery risks, including debt bondage, deceptive recruiting, forced labour and, in extreme cases, servitude, sexual servitude and even human trafficking.

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