Compliance without ambition: Taking stock of ASX200 reporting under Australia's Modern Slavery Act

This report commissioned by ACSI and conducted by Pillar Two, assessed the quality ofASX200 companies’ modern slavery statements under the Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018 (MSA). These findings offer the first detailed insight into the MSA’ s third reporting cycle and a window into ASX200 companies’ broader modern slavery risk management actions.

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‍Key findings:‍

34% of companies improved by 50% compared to their 2021 assessment. Many of these were from a low base, but the improvement is nonetheless welcome.
The average score across the ASX200 is just 44%, eight percentage points higher than 2021.
Only 19 company statements scored 30 points or more out of the available 46.5.
Few companies made meaningful disclosures of more complex actions such as supplier capacity building (6%) or training for boards/senior leadership (3%).
Just 8% of company statements reported identifying a modern slavery incident or allegation.

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