NSW Anti Slavery Commissioner says 16,400 modern slaves in NSW but so far just 25 have given him a call

Australia’s first Anti-Slavery Commissioner has been criticised for not doing enough after he estimated there were more than 16,000 modern slaves in NSW including sex workers, cleaners, fruit pickers and children forced into arranged marriages.

Australia’s first Anti-Slavery Commissioner has been criticised for not doing enough after he estimated there were more than 16,000 modern slaves in NSW including sex workers, cleaners, fruit pickers and children forced into arranged marriages.

In the last six months NSW’s Anti-Slavery Commissioner Dr James Cockayne has received just 25 calls on his mobile phone from people crying out for help.

One Nation upper house MP Rod Roberts questioned how Dr Cockayne reached his conclusion that there were 16,400 people in slavery in NSW and asked what he was doing about it.

“It seems to me that if there are more than 16,000 slaves in NSW his phone would have rung more than 25 times,” Mr Roberts said. “If the problem is as big as he says, just what is he doing about it?”

Approaching the first anniversary of his appointment to the job last August, Byron Bay-based Dr Cockayne – who earns more than $300,000 a year in the role – conceded there was still a lot of work to be done.

NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner Dr James Cockayne in Byron Bay. Picture: Danielle Smith

“Children are living in domestic servitude in rural NSW and we have been receiving reports of forced marriages in Australia,” Dr Cockayne said.

“Forty per cent of all slavery matters referred to the Australian Federal Police are about forced marriage.”

The definition of modern slavery is when one person is treating another person as if they own them.

“We have received calls from whistleblowers in the contract cleaning and security industry telling us about labour hire companies,” he said.

“Agricultural workers in rural NSW are being put in substandard housing, having their passports held and their pay docked when they want to use the kitchen.”

Dr Cockayne intends to set up a hotline but in the meantime has been handing out his mobile phone number, which has rung 25 times since January with calls for help. One of those people has now joined his team.

NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner Dr James Cockayne in Byron Bay. Picture: Danielle Smith

He is tackling slavery from both ends – helping those on the ground by referring cases to the Australian Federal Police and stopping companies and the NSW government from purchasing anything that could have been made by slave labour.

UTS Professor Jennifer Burn from Anti-Slavery Australia, who was the interim Anti Slavery Commissioner before Dr Cockayne was appointed, said he was doing a good job in setting up systems in NSW that would tackle modern slavery.

“He is engaging with people, has developed a strategic plan and employed people to form a leadership team in NSW,” she said.

“I think he has done a good job in setting out a pathway in NSW to ensure we don’t have modern slavery.”

Anti-Slavery Australia runs on cash from UTS and donations to tackle slavery on the front line and receives almost as many calls a day as Dr Cockayne has received in the last six months.

NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner Dr James Cockayne estimates there are more than 16,000 people living in slavery in NSW today. Picture: David Freund / iStock

Dr John Coyne, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said Dr Cockayne is “doing the best he can in this inaugural position. It is very difficult.”

He said Dr Cockayne came with an impressive reputation for making significant contributions to ending slavery on a global level. Translating that to NSW was a challenge.

“This is an incredibly difficult area, he is trying to get companies to understand they have a responsibility to ensure they have slavery free supply chains both domestically and internationally. Once they do you start to stamp out modern slavery.”

He said 25 calls was not many.

“What is a life worth? What is the magic number? The right number of kids saved is every one. That is 25 calls you didn’t get in the previous year and 25 lives that are better now.”