An Australian federal court case has been brought against Kmart by the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association (AUTWA), seeking preliminary discovery of documents relating to the retailer's supply chains and potential links to forced labour in China's Xinjiang region. The case references a 2021 letter from seven United Nations special rapporteurs detailing allegations of brutal working conditions, including forced labour and arbitrary detention, at a factory of Jiangsu Guotai Guosheng, which appears on Kmart's factory list.
Guotai is also listed by other Australian retailers, including Target and Big W, as well as Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo. Australia's current Modern Slavery Act requires companies to report on their supply chains but imposes no penalties for failure to report. A 2023 review led by former ombudsman Professor John McMillan found little evidence that the act has led to meaningful change.
McMillan's report recommended strengthening the act to include obligations for companies to address modern slavery risks, penalties for non-compliance, and high-risk declarations for regions or suppliers. However, important recommendations have not yet been implemented, with the government only releasing a consultation paper in July 2024. Anti-slavery advocates warn that Australia's once world-leading legislation now risks becoming a global laggard.
Australia's anti-slavery commissioner, Chris Evans, stated that the systematic use of forced labour in Xinjiang is well documented and that Australian businesses must do more to understand their supply chains. He called for better public access to information and data on high-risk products. The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, affirmed the government's commitment to combatting modern slavery, but the AUTWA president, Ramila Chanisheff, said the court action seeks to create transparency around the known phenomenon of state-sanctioned forced labour of Uyghur people.
