Modern Slavery on Site

Guidance, not advice. General information on modern-slavery risk in construction, current as at May 2026.‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍

Most small builders will never have to lodge a Modern Slavery Statement — that duty only starts at $100 million consolidated revenue — but you still work in a supply chain where labour exploitation happens, and it can land on your site. The job for a subbie or builder is to spot the red flags, avoid becoming part of it, and know how to escalate.

What the Act requires (and why it still touches you)

The Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) is a transparency law: entities operating in Australia with at least $100m annual consolidated revenue must publish a yearly statement on their structure, supply chains, modern-slavery risks and what they're doing about them. Only a few thousand large entities report — but it reaches everyone else because big clients push the obligations downstream through contracts, pre-qualification and supplier codes, especially on major property and infrastructure jobs.

Why construction and labour-hire are high-risk

Property and construction are repeatedly flagged as high-risk for modern slavery — forced or unpaid work, unsafe conditions, debt bondage and passport confiscation have all been documented on Australian projects. The most exposed workers are temporary migrants, international students and working-holiday makers, who can face deception in recruitment and have little power to enforce their rights. Labour-hire is legitimate and useful, but it turns risky through long sub-subcontracting chains, phoenix labour-hire companies, and "cash-back" schemes that hide underpayment.

The indicators — three buckets

Pay and paperwork — workers who can't explain who employs them, their pay rate or their payslips (or have none); wages withheld; unexplained deductions for accommodation, food, tools or "transport" that push pay below the minimum.
Living and working conditions — workers housed in cramped accommodation tied to the employer or labour-hire provider, near or on site, rarely leaving unaccompanied; excessive hours over long periods without breaks, PPE or safety controls.
Control and coercion — passports or documents held by an employer or agency; workers who mention threats of deportation, visa cancellation or violence if they complain, or who seem coached not to speak to site management or inspectors.

These overlap heavily with sham contracting and migration exploitation — you'll often see "ABN contractors" who still work fixed hours at a fixed place with no real business of their own, underpaid and controlled like employees (see Employee vs Contractor & Sham Contracting and Working-Holiday & Employer Sponsorship).

What you can actually do

You can't fix the whole system, but you control who comes onto your site:

Know your labour-hire chain — map which roles are filled via labour-hire or sub-subbies and who actually pays those workers; ask providers how they recruit, what they pay, whether workers keep their own documents, and what licences and tickets the workers hold (see Labour-Hire Licensing).
Build it into contracts — clauses prohibiting charging workers recruitment fees, prohibiting sub-subcontracting without your consent, and requiring compliance with workplace, migration and labour-hire-licensing laws; mirror larger clients' supplier codes for your own subs.
Check and talk — spot-check payslips and timesheets where you engage the workers, and make a point of talking directly to workers (not just the foreman) about how they got the job and who pays them.

If you see red flags

Underpayment or general exploitation — refer it (or the workers) to the Fair Work Ombudsman, recording as much detail as you can.
Trafficking or forced labour — the Australian Federal Police investigate slavery and slavery-like practices; report suspected cases to them.
Suspected migrant-worker abuse or immigration offences — report (you can do it anonymously) via Border Watch at the Australian Border Force.
Where you can, move affected workers out of immediate danger and treat them with dignity without making promises you can't keep, then document what you saw and escalate — through your own management, or directly to the regulator if management won't act.

The connection to sham contracting

The same structural drivers — complex subcontracting chains, off-the-books arrangements and reliance on temporary migrants — create both sham contracting and modern-slavery risk. So if your sham-contracting controls are working (clear lines of who employs whom, real ABN checks, no cash-back or under-award deals), you're already closing off some of the pathways that lead into modern-slavery-like situations (see Sham-Contracting Enforcement).

Common mistakes

Assuming it's "not my problem" because you're under the $100m reporting threshold.
Engaging labour-hire down a long chain without asking how workers are recruited and paid.
Treating obvious sham-ABN control as normal rather than a red flag.
Seeing the indicators and saying nothing.

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