Slavery warning adds to Premier Chris Minns’ Chinese buses embarrassment
The NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner has issued a stark warning over the purchase of buses almost completely built in China.
NSW
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The NSW Anti-Slavery commissioner’s office has conceded the NSW Government will sometimes be unable to avoid procuring parts for buses and other projects which may have foreign slave labour links, in another hurdle for the new fleets on the way for Sydney.
The stark warning in the commissioner’s first report on the modern slavery risks of buying NSW’s new buses from overseas comes as the government defends itself following revelations the first of 15 new buses were almost completely built in China, despite Premier Chris Minns pledging they’d be constructed in the state.
The report from the anti-slavery commissioner, tabled last week in parliament, highlighted that foreign components bound for NSW risked involving modern slavery which could potentially be impossible to avoid.
“It is important to acknowledge that NSW Government entities will sometimes have little option but to procure products or services that have a high risk of modern slavery,” the report states.
Opposition industrial relations spokesman Damien Tudehope accused the government of not acting fast enough to implement stronger checks-and-balances to curb any chance of modern slavery, including introducing a suite of stronger measures in June.
“We take the combating of modern slavery very seriously and have been actively engaged with the Anti-Slavery Commissioner to implement best practice procurement,” Minister for Domestic Manufacturing and Government Procurement Courtney Houssos responded.
“It is already mandatory that all government suppliers must take reasonable steps to ensure their supply chains are free from modern slavery.”
It follows The Saturday Telegraph revealing the first 15 of 126 new electric buses were almost completely built in China, despite Premier Chris Minns earlier this year saying they would be built at a new specialist facility in Nowra.
The images were posted on Chinese vehicle manufacturing company Foton’s Facebook page, but were deleted within hours of enquiries from The Saturday Telegraph, with a spokesman for Transport Minister John Graham saying his office did not instruct the post be removed.
Mr Graham on Saturday said the government always planned to have the “shells” of its new electric bus fleet built in China, despite the premier promising they would be made on home soil.
“It’s consistent with what the plan always was, which is the shells are coming in from overseas and the internal fittings, the seats, the CCTV, the fire safety, the wiring, the telematics, things like the open hardware (will be done in NSW),” he said.
“Skilled workers will be fitting out those buses as a start and each time we’ll be increasing the amount of manufacturing (in NSW).
“That’s the way to build back from where we were…I want to be really clear, if the premier hadn’t staked out the government’s position here, nothing would change. We’d continue to go backwards. It would continue to be champagne and party poppers as we bought these things from overseas.”
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Originally published as Slavery warning adds to Premier Chris Minns’ Chinese buses embarrassment
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