The Act organises its response around a small set of legal and administrative concepts, explicitly defined in s 5 and operationalised through Parts 2, 3 and 5.

• Modern slavery and modern slavery offence. Modern slavery is defined broadly to include any conduct constituting a modern slavery offence and conduct involving slavery, servitude or forced labour taking place in supply chains (s 5). Modern slavery offences are those listed in Schedule 2 (which pulls in specified Crimes Act provisions, an organ-trading provision of the Human Tissue Act, and a number of Commonwealth Criminal Code offences). The Act treats conduct occurring outside NSW as a modern slavery offence where, if it had occurred in NSW, it would have been covered (s 5(1) modern slavery offence(c); see also extraterritorial intention in s 4).

• Anti-slavery Commissioner. The Commissioner is a statutory office appointed by the Governor for up to five-year terms, limited to two terms per person (s 6). The office is full-time (s 6(4)) and employment is governed by contract with the Minister, with specified application of provisions from the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 (s 6A). The Commissioner is legally independent in the exercise of functions (s 7), yet appointment, contract and removal mechanisms involve the executive (s 6, 6C). The Commissioner’s functions are deliberative, advisory and co-ordinative: advocacy, victim assistance, recommendations, training, monitoring of government agency supply chains, and raising public awareness (s 9). The Commissioner has incidental powers, delegation power (s 17, s 18), and can arrange for staff or use other government staff and contractors (s 8).

• Reporting, strategic planning and public transparency. The Commissioner must prepare a strategic plan after appointment, in consultation with the Minister, covering one to three years and addressing defined matters including the National Action Plan and public awareness (s 11). Annual operational reports to the Minister and Parliament are mandated (s 19), with specified content including implementation review of the strategic plan, evaluation of agency responses to Commissioner recommendations, and particular reporting items (s 19(2)-(3)). The Commissioner keeps an electronic public register (s 26) and may publish codes of practice to guide organisations about supply chain identification and remediation (s 27).

• Duties on government agencies and state owned corporations. Government agencies must co-operate with the Commissioner (s 14), including disclosing information and providing assistance, with those duties prevailing over certain privacy statutes to the extent relevant (s 14(5)). The Commissioner consults with Auditor-General and NSW Procurement Board on procurement due diligence (s 25). State owned corporations that are not Commonwealth reporting entities are required to volunteer to become reporting entities under the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act if eligible (s 25A) and to publish modern slavery statements and notify the Commissioner (s 25B). Annual reporting by GSF agencies must include statements on action taken in response to issues raised by the Commissioner and steps to ensure procurement is not the product of modern slavery (s 31).

• Interaction with enforcement agencies and limits. The Commissioner can refer information obtained in the exercise of functions to police, the Ombudsman, departmental secretaries and other agencies (s 13). However, the Commissioner does not generally have functions to investigate or deal directly with individual complaints, except to the extent necessary to consider general issues and provide referrals (s 10). The Commissioner’s access to police-provided information is subject to constraints: police may withhold information on enumerated grounds (s 35).

• Legal protections and liabilities. Persons providing information to the Commissioner in good faith are protected from civil and criminal liability apart from under the Act (s 16). The Commissioner and agents acting in good faith are personally protected from personal liability, with liability instead attaching to the Crown (s 16A). Confidentiality protections are provided in the Modern Slavery Committee context (Schedule 1, cl 7).

Together, these concepts create a largely administrative and transparency-driven regime that seeks to harness reporting, guidance and inter-agency cooperation to detect and prevent modern slavery in supply chains and public procurement.

The Act affects multiple classes of actors, with distinct obligations or exposures for each.

• Anti-slavery Commissioner and staff. The Commissioner is the central institutional actor. Appointment and employment terms are set out at ss 6 and 6A; the office is full-time and the holder may be re-appointed once (s 6). The Commissioner can employ staff under the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 and use services of other government agency staff or contractors (s 8). The Commissioner is required to prepare a strategic plan, report annually and may make other reports (ss 11, 19).

• NSW government agencies. A broad statutory class,government sector agencies, NSW Government agencies, local councils and authorities constituted by or under an Act, and authorities of other jurisdictions exercising public functions,are included in the definition of government agency (s 5). These agencies must cooperate with the Commissioner, including disclosure of information and assistance, and such cooperation carries a duty despite the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002, but only to the extent relevant to the Commissioner’s functions (s 14(1), (2), (5)). The Commissioner also monitors government procurement due diligence by consulting Auditor-General and NSW Procurement Board (s 25), and the Commissioner’s public register identifies government agencies failing to comply with NSW Procurement Board directions concerning procurement of goods and services that are the product of modern slavery (s 26(1)(c)).

• State owned corporations (SOCs). SOCs that are not reporting entities under the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act are required to volunteer to comply with that Commonwealth Act if eligible (s 25A). Those SOCs must not revoke such a notice once given (s 25A(3)). After giving a modern slavery statement under the Commonwealth Act, a SOC must publish the statement on a publicly accessible website and give the Commissioner written notice (s 25B). The Commissioner’s register records SOCs that failed to provide a Commonwealth modern slavery statement for a reporting period (s 26(1)(c1)).

• Commercial organisations and other non-government organisations. The Act’s definition of organisation expressly includes commercial organisations and government agencies (s 5). The Commissioner may develop codes of practice for identifying modern slavery in supply chains, and may publish guidance and training for organisations (ss 27-28). While the Act does not directly impose new mandatory reporting duties on non-government commercial entities (except through State-owned entities required to publish statements in relation to the Commonwealth Act), the Commissioner’s guidance, public register, and codes of practice are designed to influence commercial behaviour, especially where those commercial entities transacting with government face procurement scrutiny.

• Victims and advocacy bodies. Victims and persons at risk,particularly children,are direct subjects of the Commissioner’s functions to identify and provide assistance and support (s 9(b)). The Commissioner may establish or use a hotline and must encourage reporting, expressly including reporting by sex workers and representative bodies (s 12). The Commissioner may refer information to child welfare agencies and police where there are reasonable grounds to suspect a child is at risk of significant harm (s 20). Bodies that provide services to victims must cooperate with the Commissioner (s 14(1)).

• NSW Police and investigative agencies. The Commissioner may refer information to police and other investigative agencies (s 13(2)), and the Commissioner of Police must, on request or by arrangement, provide information to the Commissioner subject to enumerated withholding grounds (s 35). The Commissioner’s ability to act depends in part on the co-operation and willingness of investigative agencies to share relevant information.

• Parliament and the Modern Slavery Committee. The Modern Slavery Committee (ss 21-23, Schedule 1) is a statutory joint committee that inquires into and reports on modern slavery matters and is required to review the Act (s 36). The Commissioner must report to Parliament and respond to Committee reports (s 19(4), 22(3)).

The Act therefore imposes duties and reporting requirements most directly on public-sector actors and State owned corporations, creates an advisory and monitoring regime that targets suppliers through guidance and public disclosure, and affects victims and service providers through referral and support mechanisms.

The Act establishes specific duties, reporting obligations and rights across several actors and sets limits on investigatory scope.

• Duties of the Commissioner. The Commissioner must perform functions specified in s 9, including advocacy, victim assistance, advice and training, cooperation with persons and organisations, monitoring reporting concerning supply-chain risks of government agencies (s 9(e)), and monitoring legislation and policy effectiveness (s 9(f)). The Commissioner must prepare a strategic plan (s 11) and annual reports to the Minister and Parliament (s 19). The Commissioner may refer information obtained to police and other agencies (s 13) and may make reports to Parliament on matters under the Commissioner’s functions (s 19(4)).

• Duties of government agencies. Government agencies are required to cooperate with the Commissioner (s 14(1)). The cooperation duty includes disclosing information likely to assist the Commissioner or agencies exercising modern slavery-related functions (s 14(2)(a)), and providing reasonable assistance and support (s 14(2)(b)). The duty to provide information and access to documents prevails over the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 to the extent the information is relevant (s 14(5)). The Commissioner may require information for the public register (s 26(3) authorises regulations requiring government agencies to give specified information to the Commissioner).

• Duties for procurement and reporting. The Commissioner is to consult with the Auditor-General and the NSW Procurement Board to monitor due diligence procedures to ensure government procurement is not the product of modern slavery (s 25). Government Sector Finance (GSF) agencies’ annual reporting must include statements about action taken in relation to issues raised by the Commissioner and steps taken to ensure procurement was not the product of modern slavery (s 31).

• Duties of State owned corporations. SOCs that are not reporting entities under the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act must volunteer to comply with that Commonwealth Act if eligible (s 25A(2)). A SOC that has volunteered must not revoke a notice given under the Commonwealth Act (s 25A(3)). A SOC that gives a Commonwealth modern slavery statement must publish it on a publicly accessible website and send written notice to the Commissioner (s 25B).

• Rights and protections for persons providing information. Persons who comply, or purport to comply in good faith, with a requirement under the Act, or who provide information to the Commissioner, are protected from criminal or civil liability apart from liability under the Act (s 16(1)). The Act provides that no civil liability attaches for providing information whether under contract or otherwise, and no liability for defamation arises because of providing the information (s 16(2)-(3)).

• Commissioner and agent immunity. Actions or omissions done in good faith by the Commissioner or persons acting under the Commissioner’s direction do not subject them personally to actions, claims or demands; liability instead attaches to the Crown (s 16A).

• Limits on the Commissioner’s investigatory function. The Commissioner “does not generally have the function of investigating or dealing directly with the complaints or concerns of individual cases” (s 10(1)). The Commissioner may consider individual cases for the purpose of addressing general issues, and may provide referrals and information to individuals and their advocates (s 10(2)). The Modern Slavery Committee is likewise not authorised to investigate particular conduct (s 22(2)).

• Information-sharing and confidentiality constraints. The Commissioner may refer information under s 13, despite provisions in privacy legislation, but only to the extent relevant to Commissioner functions (s 13(4)). Police-provided information is protected by restrictions on disclosure by the Commissioner; the Commissioner must not disclose information provided by the Commissioner of Police except with written consent, and police may refuse to provide information on enumerated grounds, with reasons to be supplied in writing when refusing (s 35).

• Delegation and incidental powers. The Commissioner may delegate functions to staff or prescribed persons (s 18) and has incidental powers to do what is necessary or reasonably incidental to exercise of functions (s 17).

These duties and rights create a structure in which the Commissioner acts as a central coordinator, monitor and educator; government agencies and SOCs are required to cooperate and report; and individuals and bodies that provide information have statutory liability protections. The Commissioner has significant public-facing transparency functions but limited investigatory powers in respect of individual cases.

The Act provides a mix of public transparency levers, reporting obligations and statutory protections, while enforcement mechanisms and penalties are limited and largely delegated to existing criminal laws referenced in Schedule 2 and to regulations.

• Criminal offences incorporated by reference. Schedule 2 designates various offences under the Crimes Act 1900 (for example, causing sexual servitude, ss 80D-80E; child abuse material offences ss 91G-91HAA; slavery and slavery-like offences ss 93AA-93AC), the Human Tissue Act 1983 (s 32, limited to organ-related trading), and a suite of Commonwealth Criminal Code offences (including slavery, servitude, forced labour, trafficking in persons, deceptive recruiting, forced marriage, debt bondage and organ trafficking, e.g. ss 270.3, 270.5, 270.6A, 271.2 and related provisions in the Criminal Code). The Act defines “modern slavery offence” by reference to Schedule 2 and includes conduct that would constitute such an offence if it occurred in NSW (s 5).

• Summary proceedings. Proceedings for an offence under this Act or the regulations may be dealt with summarily in the Local Court (s 33). That provision was substituted by 2021 amendments (s 33: Subst 2021 No 39, Sch 1[40]).

• Regulatory offences and penalties. The Governor may make regulations under s 34 for any matter necessary to give effect to the Act. Section 34(2) expressly authorises regulations that create offences punishable by up to 50 penalty units. The Act itself contains limited positive criminal enforcement mechanisms; instead it imports substantive crimes via Schedule 2 and reserves regulatory penalty-making power.

• Committee confidentiality penalties. Schedule 1, cl 7 provides specific penalties for unlawful disclosure of evidence taken in private by the Modern Slavery Committee: a maximum of 20 penalty units or imprisonment for 3 months, or both (sch 1, cl 7(3)-(4)).

• Public register and reputational enforcement. The Commissioner is required to maintain a public electronic register that identifies government agencies failing to comply with NSW Procurement Board directions regarding procurement of goods and services that are the product of modern slavery, and which identifies SOCs that have failed to provide a Commonwealth modern slavery statement for a reporting period (s 26). The register is to be made publicly available free of charge (s 26(2)). This creates a reputational enforcement mechanism rather than a direct financial penalty.

• Limitations on the Commissioner’s disclosure of police information. Section 35 constrains the Commissioner’s disclosure of information received from the Commissioner of Police, thereby limiting the Commissioner’s capacity to publicise certain operational details where police identify specific risks (s 35(2)-(3)).

• Protections that limit liability exposure. Section 16 immunises persons providing information to the Commissioner in good faith from criminal and civil liability (apart from under the Act), and s 16A shields the Commissioner and agents acting in good faith from personal liability (with the Crown bearing liability). These protections can affect enforcement dynamics by encouraging disclosure but also shifting legal responsibility away from individuals providing information.

In short, the Act relies primarily on: (1) criminal law already in force and incorporated by reference in Schedule 2 for substantive offences; (2) regulatory instruments for procedural offences with capped penalty units (s 34); (3) summary Local Court disposition for offences under the Act or regulations (s 33); and (4) naming-and-shaming via the public register and parliamentary reporting as non-penal levers to induce compliance. The Commissioner’s limited investigatory remit (s 10) means the Act reinforces referral and co-operation with investigative agencies rather than creating an independent prosecutorial or investigative function.

The Act is structured to operate alongside existing state and Commonwealth criminal law, privacy regimes, procurement law and the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act 2018. The text explicitly cross-references and, in parts, modifies the interplay with these instruments.

• Incorporation of Commonwealth and other State offences. Schedule 2 imports offences from the NSW Crimes Act 1900, the Human Tissue Act 1983 (organ trading), and numerous provisions of the Commonwealth Criminal Code (sch 2). The Act therefore does not create many new substantive criminal offences; it aggregates existing offences under the banner of “modern slavery offences” (s 5). Where conduct occurred overseas that would be an offence if it occurred in NSW, the Act treats it as a modern slavery offence (s 5(1)(c)), consistent with the stated extraterritorial intention in s 4.

• Interaction with Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act 2018. The Act explicitly interacts with the Commonwealth reporting regime. State owned corporations that are not reporting entities under the Commonwealth Act must volunteer to become reporting entities if eligible (s 25A(2)). The Act requires SOCs that give modern slavery statements under the Commonwealth Act to publish them and notify the Commissioner (s 25B). The relevant Commonwealth Act definitions and procedural requirements are therefore engaged by reference (s 25A Note).

• Interaction with privacy and health information laws. Sections 13(4) and 14(5) state that information can be referred to or provided to the Commissioner despite the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002, but only to the extent the information is relevant to the Commissioner’s functions. This is a limited statutory override: it does not displace the privacy statutes wholesale, but allows information-sharing insofar as relevance to modern slavery functions is established.

• Procurement law and the NSW Procurement Board. The Commissioner must consult with the Auditor-General and the NSW Procurement Board to monitor the effectiveness of due diligence procedures to ensure government procurement is not the product of modern slavery (s 25). The public register is required to identify government agencies failing to comply with NSW Procurement Board directions under s 175 of the Public Works and Procurement Act 1912 concerning procurement that is the product of modern slavery (s 26(1)(c)). The Act therefore dovetails with existing procurement frameworks and oversight mechanisms rather than replacing them.

• Government Sector statutes. The Commissioner’s employment arrangements and aspects of remuneration apply certain provisions of the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 (s 6A). GSF agencies must include specified matters in their annual reporting under the Government Sector Finance Act 2018, linking the Commissioner’s findings into financial reporting obligations (s 31).

• Parliamentary evidence and committee law. The Modern Slavery Committee is declared a joint committee for the purposes of the Parliamentary Evidence Act 1901 and the Parliamentary Papers (Supplementary Provisions) Act 1975 (Schedule 1, cl 8). The Act prescribes committee powers to send for persons, papers and records (sch 1, cl 6) and confidentiality protections with associated penalties for unauthorised publication (sch 1, cl 7).

• Limits on information-sharing from police. Section 35 gives the Commissioner of Police discretion to refuse to provide information to the Commissioner or to require consent before disclosure, on a set of enumerated grounds (prejudice to investigations, coronial matters, legal privilege, endangering persons, etc.). This constrains the Act’s intended information-sharing across law enforcement boundaries.

Overall, the Act forms an interlocking layer on top of existing criminal laws, procurement frameworks and the Commonwealth’s reporting regime. It leverages statutory overrides to limited privacy laws for relevant disclosures, binds Crown entities (s 30), and uses parliamentary committee oversight. The legislative design is therefore integrative: it coordinates and centralises reporting and guidance rather than creating an entirely new penal code for modern slavery.

The version of the Act provided includes marked amendments and insertions referenced in schedule annotations. The source text records the principal amendments and their citations.

• Original Act and commencement. The instrument is the Modern Slavery Act 2018, as referenced in the Act’s name clause (s 1). The Act, as presented, records commencement on 1 January 2022 (s 2: Am 2021 No 39, Sch 1[1]).

• 2018 and 2021 amendments. Multiple provisions show amendment annotations citing “Am 2018 No 68, Sch 1.18 [1]” and a series of amendments by “2021 No 39, Sch 1[...]”. These 2021 amendments substantively altered Part 2 (establishing the Anti-slavery Commissioner provisions that were inserted or substantiated in 2021 No 39, Sch 1[12]-[27] and elsewhere). For example:

  • s 6 (Appointment of Anti-slavery Commissioner) is noted as substituted in 2021 No 39, Sch 1[12].
  • ss 6A-6D (employment, vacancy, removal, acting commissioner) were inserted by 2021 No 39, Sch 1[12].
  • s 7 (Independence of Commissioner) was substituted in 2021 No 39, Sch 1[13].
  • s 9 (General functions) and related sections (s 10-16A, s 17-18) show amendments or insertions in 2021 No 39, Sch 1[14]-[27].
  • Part 3 amendments adding ss 25A-25B and changes to s 26 and s 27-28 were made by 2021 No 39, Sch 1[31]-[38].
  • s 31 on annual reports dates its commencement to Part 7.3 of the Government Sector Finance Act 2018 and has the annotation about effect (s 31(2)).

• 2025 amendment note. Section 19 carries a parenthetical amendment reference “2025 No 13, Sch 4” indicating a further amendment to reporting provisions occurred (s 19: Am 2021 No 39, Sch 1[19] [28]; 2025 No 13, Sch 4). The source text does not detail the substantive content of the 2025 amendment beyond the notation.

• Repeals and substitutions. Several provisions are shown as repealed or replaced by 2021 amendments (for example s 24 and s 29 are marked repealed, and multiple earlier textual notes indicate substitution). Schedule 4 and Schedule 5 (where present earlier) have been repealed as noted (sch 4: Rep 1987 No 15, sec 30C and sch 5 similarly rep).

• Transitional and savings provisions. Schedule 3 exists with the notation “sch 3: Am 2021 No 39, Sch 1[44]” and contains transitional provisions, while the regulations clause (Schedule 3 Part 1, cl 1) permits savings or transitional regulations subject to temporal limits.

The Act’s amendment history in the source shows a significant 2021 reform package (2021 No 39, Sch 1) that inserted the Anti-slavery Commissioner, modernised reporting, created State owned corporation reporting duties tied to the Commonwealth Act, and added public register and guidance powers. The 2025 notation to s 19 indicates at least one subsequent tweak to reporting obligations. The source does not provide an exhaustive amendment timeline or the original 2018 text side-by-side; it records the amending instruments by citation. Practitioners should consult the consolidated Act and the amending instruments (2021 No 39, Sch 1; 2018 No 68; 2025 No 13, Sch 4) for the detailed legislative history and the precise text changes.

The provided source text contains no case law, judicial interpretations, or references to litigation arising under this Act. The schedules and sections reference existing criminal offences in the Crimes Act 1900 and the Commonwealth Criminal Code (Schedule 2), but the Act itself does not cite any judicial decisions interpreting its provisions. The Modern Slavery Committee has powers to send for persons, papers and records and to take evidence (Schedule 1, cl 6), and its confidentiality provisions carry statutory penalties, but the text does not include litigation examples.

Accordingly, from the source alone, there is no litigation history to summarise. Practitioners requiring case law on the operation of this Act, the Commissioner’s powers, the effect of the public register, or interplay with the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act should search reported decisions and tribunal records after the dates of commencement and amendment cited in the Act (notably the 2021 amendments and the 1 January 2022 commencement). Where Schedule 2 offences are concerned, litigation will also arise under the Crimes Act 1900 and the Commonwealth Criminal Code provisions incorporated by reference; those sources have their own litigation histories, but none are recited in the text provided.

The Act contains several practical traps and operational tensions that advisers and compliance officers should note, all grounded in the statutory text.

• Limited investigatory power of the Commissioner. The Commissioner “does not generally have the function of investigating or dealing directly with complaints or concerns of individual cases” (s 10(1)). The Commissioner can consider individual cases only for the purposes of addressing general issues and may provide referrals (s 10(2)). For practitioners, this means the Commissioner is not a substitute for law enforcement or victim advocacy services in terms of case-level investigation; reliance on the Commissioner for case outcomes is a potential misunderstanding.

• Reliance on cooperation from agencies and police. The Commissioner’s effectiveness depends on cooperation from government agencies (s 14) and information-sharing from the Commissioner of Police (s 35). Police may refuse to provide information on enumerated grounds (s 35(3)), and if police refuse they must provide written reasons (s 35(4)). If an agency or police withholds information, the Commissioner’s monitoring and public register functions may be hampered.

• Privacy override is limited by relevance. Sections 13(4) and 14(5) allow information to be provided despite the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002, “but only to the extent that it is relevant to the exercise of a function of the Commissioner.” This introduces a relevance test that could be litigated or contested; agencies should document the relevance rationale when disclosing information.

• Reputational exposure via the public register. The Commissioner’s electronic register is required to identify government agencies failing to comply with NSW Procurement Board directions and SOCs that have failed to provide Commonwealth modern slavery statements (s 26(1)(c), (c1)). Agencies and SOCs face reputational risk from listing; the Act does not prescribe direct monetary penalties in these circumstances but public identification can create significant political and commercial consequences.

• State owned corporations and irrevocability. A SOC that volunteers under s 25A(2) to become a reporting entity under the Commonwealth Act “must not revoke a notice given” under the Commonwealth Act (s 25A(3)). SOCs must therefore treat the decision to volunteer as effectively irreversible, potentially binding them to ongoing reporting obligations under the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act.

• Protections that can erode accountability or complicate disclosure. Section 16 provides that persons providing information to the Commissioner in good faith are immune from civil or criminal liability (apart from under the Act). While designed to encourage disclosure, it could also complicate accountability where disclosures are made in error, and the “good faith” standard could be disputed.

• Scope mismatch between naming and criminal enforcement. The Act combines naming, reporting and advocacy with the importation of criminal offences via Schedule 2. However, the Commissioner lacks prosecutorial powers and is not a law enforcement body (s 10), so stakeholder expectations that the Commissioner will drive criminal outcomes may be misplaced. Criminal enforcement requires police and prosecutorial action under existing offences.

• Delegation and oversight. The Commissioner may delegate functions to staff or prescribed classes of persons (s 18). Delegations can be useful for scaling but create governance and oversight requirements to ensure delegated actions remain within statutory purpose and do not inadvertently disclose restricted police information or breach confidentiality.

• Potential gaps around private sector reporting. The Act imposes mandatory actions mainly on government agencies and SOCs (ss 14, 25A-25B, 31). It does not create a new mandatory reporting duty on private commercial entities (outside the Commonwealth regime for those covered by the Modern Slavery Act 2018). Organisations contracting with government will nevertheless face scrutiny through procurement due diligence and the public register, but private entities not captured by Commonwealth reporting regimes have no direct statutory obligation under this NSW Act.

• Regulatory penalty-making power. Section 34 allows the Governor to make regulations, including creating offences with penalties up to 50 penalty units. This creates a future compliance risk: regulated obligations and penalties could be introduced by regulation rather than primary legislation, so agencies and organisations must monitor regulatory developments.

• Timing and transitional uncertainty. The Act and its amendments include transitional provisions and time-limited powers for making savings or transitional regulations (Schedule 3, Part 1, cl 1). Some provisions (for example the inclusion of annual report items for GSF agencies) only commence with other legislative parts (s 31(2)). Practitioners should trace commencement dates in the consolidated Act and subordinate instruments to avoid compliance errors.

These “gotchas” are mechanistic and stem directly from the Act’s provisions. They highlight areas where implementation planning, record-keeping of relevance and good-faith standards, and coordination with police and procurement authorities will be determinative for practical compliance.

Compliance under the Act requires concrete operational steps for government agencies, State owned corporations and organisations interacting with those entities. The Act largely relies on information flows, reporting, procurement due diligence and public transparency, so compliance is primarily administrative and procedural.

For government agencies:

• Establish points of contact and cooperation protocols with the Anti-slavery Commissioner. Section 14 requires agencies to work co-operatively and to disclose information likely to assist the Commissioner (s 14(1)-(2)). Document decision-making on disclosure, including relevance assessments to satisfy the limited privacy override in s 14(5).
• Review procurement due diligence procedures. The Commissioner will monitor due diligence in consultation with the Auditor-General and the NSW Procurement Board (s 25). Ensure contract templates, supplier due diligence checks, and procurement policies capture modern slavery risk identification, remediation and reporting. Record steps taken to avoid procuring goods and services that are the product of modern slavery.
• Prepare annual reporting statements required under the Government Sector Finance Act. Section 31 obliges GSF agencies’ annual reporting information to include a statement of action taken in relation to issues raised by the Commissioner and steps ensuring procurement was not the product of modern slavery. Integrate these statements into financial reporting cycles and link them to internal audit and procurement assurance processes.
• Cooperate with information requests for the Commissioner’s register and codes of practice. The regulations may require agencies to give specified information for inclusion on the public register (s 26(3)). Have processes for timely and auditable responses.

For State owned corporations:

• Determine Commonwealth reporting eligibility and decide whether to volunteer under the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act. Section 25A requires SOCs not already reporting entities to volunteer if eligible. Because s 25A(3) bars revocation of the notice, undertake a governance review before volunteering.
• If providing a Commonwealth modern slavery statement, publish it on a publicly accessible website promptly and then notify the NSW Commissioner in writing as required by s 25B. Maintain documentary evidence of publication and notice.
• Incorporate modern slavery risk identification and supplier remediation processes consistent with codes of practice the Commissioner may publish (s 27) and the Commissioner’s guidance on employing persons and supply-chain management (s 28).

For commercial organisations contracting with government:

• Expect increased procurement scrutiny. Government agencies are required to monitor and report on due diligence and to identify suppliers or contracts connected to modern slavery on the public register (s 26). Build supplier due diligence processes, documentation and remedial pathways to demonstrate to government buyers that risks are managed.
• Align corporate modern slavery statements with the Commonwealth Act if applicable. Even where NSW law does not create an independent obligation on private entities, being aligned with the Commonwealth reporting standard will reduce friction in government procurement and downstream reputational risk.

Operational and governance measures for all affected entities:

• Policy and training. Implement modern slavery policies, whistleblower and hotline guidance, and training for procurement and front-line staff. Section 12 highlights the Commissioner’s role in public awareness and establishing a hotline; agencies should map referral pathways to existing victim services and reporting lines.
• Recordkeeping and evidence. Keep auditable records demonstrating due diligence, supplier assessments, contract clauses, remediation efforts and communications with the Commissioner or procurement authorities. These will underpin annual reporting statements (s 31) and responses to register enquiries.
• Privacy and information-sharing documentation. When disclosing information under ss 13 or 14 despite privacy laws, document the relevance analysis and legal basis for the disclosure to withstand challenge.
• Legal risk and regulatory watch. Monitor regulatory developments under s 34 for any new offences or reporting duties created by regulation that carry penalties up to 50 penalty units. Ensure counsel is engaged when making choices about volunteering under Commonwealth regimes (s 25A), and when responding to information requests or public register listings.
• Incident response and referral pathways. Because the Commissioner does not generally investigate individual complaints (s 10), establish clear internal and external referral pathways to police, child protection or victim services for suspected criminal conduct, and keep records of referrals. Use the Commissioner for high-level systemic issues and training rather than case prosecution.
• Engagement with the Commissioner’s codes of practice. Use codes drafted under s 27 as practical compliance reference documents, but ensure any reliance on incorporated standards is current, since codes may incorporate external standards “as in force at a particular time or from time to time” (s 27(2)).

Finally, governance bodies should map who pays, who decides and what behaviour will change. Practically, government agencies will bear most compliance costs (resourcing procurement teams, information disclosure, reporting cycles), SOCs will face a one-off governance decision with ongoing reporting if they volunteer (s 25A-25B), and suppliers will face increased due-diligence demands when contracting with government. The Commissioner’s public reporting, codes and register create incentives for agencies and SOCs to remediate supplier risks, but the Act’s operational effect depends on inter-agency cooperation, police information-sharing, and the content of any regulations made under s 34.