OLIVER HARTWICH: A feel-good law with a global track record of failure

To most New Zealanders in 2026, slavery sounds like a relic of past centuries and faraway places. Unfortunately, it is not.

Forced labour, trafficking and debt bondage still trap millions worldwide, often in countries we trade with, from the cotton fields of Xinjiang to the fishing boats of South-East Asia.

Wanting to do something about such injustices is understandable. That said, good intentions do not automatically make good law. The Modern Slavery Bill, introduced by Labour’s Camilla Belich and National’s Greg Fleming and backed by most of the House at first reading, proves it.

The Bill would require firms earning over $100 million to report annually on slavery in their supply chains and publish the reports on a public register.

If you miss the deadline, or file a thin statement, the fines reach $200,000. The directors could be held personally liable, too, not for the slavery, but for failing to report it.

So, what is wrong with that?

For a start, the Bill rewards staying ignorant. A company that finds slavery in its supply chain must disclose it and publish it for all to read. A company that looks no further than its front door finds nothing to report, and a clean statement keeps it in the clear.

One might have thought a law against slavery would go after slavers themselves. This one goes after the wrong people.

The earnings threshold would catch only the biggest, most visible firms. But in New Zealand, slavery is usually the work of small operators preying on migrant workers in restaurants, on fishing boats and in massage parlours.

None of those businesses would need to file statements under this Bill.

We would not be the first to try to fight modern slavery with new laws. Britain passed its Modern Slavery Act in 2015. Its official review found box-ticking statements and no clear evidence that the Act has freed anyone.

Australia followed anyway in 2018. Its review reached the same verdict.

That did not stop Germany from going further still, passing a due-diligence law in 2021. But it was such a bureaucratic disaster, the new Government is gutting it.

None of these failed examples has deterred our Parliament.

Passing a law against modern slavery is easy. Making it work for the people it should protect is the hard part.

So far, not one country that has tried has managed it. And with this Bill, New Zealand will not be the first.

Dr Oliver Hartwich's submission, Modern Slavery Bill, was lodged on 27 May 2026.