Australian Government: Attorney-General's Department
Australian Government: Attorney-General's DepartmentAchieving a Just and Secure Society

People Trafficking

Trafficking in persons is a serious crime. Many countries are affected by it in some way. Australia is a destination country for trafficking victims, but the number of trafficking victims in Australia remains low due to Australia’s strong border control and geographic isolation. Nonetheless, the Government is committed to combating trafficking in all its forms and to ensuring that Australia’s anti-trafficking strategy remains relevant and responsive to emerging trends and issues.

People trafficking is a complex, multi-faceted crime with no single solution. The Commonwealth’s whole-of-government strategy to combat trafficking in persons was established in 2003, with initial funding of $20 million over four years. A further $38.3 million over four years was provided in 2007-08, including $26.3 million for new initiatives. The measures implemented address the full trafficking cycle, from recruitment to reintegration, and give equal weight to the critical areas of prevention, detection and investigation, prosecution and victim support.

Australia’s response

Trafficking is a global problem and Australia acknowledges the need to address the issue domestically and internationally.

Internationally

Australia has ratified the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime Convention (UNTOC) (since 2004) and its supplementary Trafficking Protocol (since 2005). Australia also actively engages with other countries in our region and beyond in the fight against people trafficking and participates actively in international forums such as the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and the UNTOC Conference of Parties to better address and prevent trafficking.

Regionally

Australia also takes a collaborative approach to working with other countries through forums such as the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, which it co-chairs with Indonesia. Australia also supports a number of aid projects in the Asia region including the Asia Regional Co-operation to Prevent People Trafficking Project (ARTIP) which can be found on the AusAID website.

Domestically

The Attorney-General's Department chairs an Interdepartmental Committee (IDC), comprising a number of Government agencies which are responsible for coordinating the Government’s efforts to combat people trafficking. The IDC released its first report for the period January 2004-April 2009 and its second report for the period May 2009- June 2010, both of which can be downloaded from this website.

In June 2009 the Minister for Home Affairs, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and the Minister for the Status of Women announced substantive changes to Australia’s anti trafficking strategy, to provide a more flexible framework to support victims and their families. A fact sheet on the changes to the strategy is available for download in six languages from the links below:

If you have any problems downloading any of these documents, please contact peopletrafficking@ag.gov.au.

Members of the Anti People Trafficking Interdepartmental Committee are:

In 2008-09, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) conducted an audit of the Management of the Australian Government's Action Plan to Eradicate Trafficking in Persons. Recommendations in the ANAO report, tabled in Parliament on 29 April 2009, included that the IDC strengthen arrangements for reviewing progress and measuring results of the anti-trafficking strategy by developing an appropriate whole-of-government performance framework. This included developing a method to establish reasonable estimates of the number of victims of trafficking, to support the broad outcomes articulated by the Australian Government in 2004.

The first data report on the Australian Government’s Anti-People Trafficking Strategy covers the period from the implementation of the Government’s anti-people trafficking strategy in January 2004 until 30 June 2010. Subsequent reports are issued on a six-monthly basis.

Where to from here?

Building stronger partnerships

On 17 June 2009, the Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Brendan O’Connor MP, supported by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, the Minister for the Status of Women, and the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance convened the second meeting of the National Roundtable on People Trafficking. Building on the success of the first National Roundtable in 2008, the second meeting focused on trafficking for labour exploitation. Among other outcomes, a working group was established to develop strategies for raising awareness among migrant populations of fair work issues in Australia.

The Roundtable brings together government and non-government organisations working to combat people trafficking and support victims and provides an ongoing mechanism for consulting on, testing and developing government policy on trafficking issues.

The terms of reference for the Roundtable and a Statement of Outcomes from the meeting in 2008 are available below.

Anti-Human Trafficking Community Resource

On 23 November the Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Brendan O’Connor MP, released the Anti-Human Trafficking Community Resource. This Resource is the product of an Achieving Collaborative Awareness exercise held by the Australian Federal Police in April 2011, which advanced the collective understanding of the most effective approaches to prevent, deter and disrupt the serious crime of people trafficking and to assist victims.

This resource provides a comprehensive reference guide to all government agencies, NGOs, unions and industry groups which have a role to play in the fight against trafficking. It will help to improve stakeholders’ understanding of each others’ respective roles in caring for victims and cooperatively obstructing and investigating people trafficking offences.

The Anti-Human Trafficking Community Resource is available below:

Guidelines for NGOs working with trafficked people

The 'Guidelines for NGOs working with trafficked people' have been updated to take into account important changes to the Support for Victims of People Trafficking Program and the People Trafficking Visa Framework which came into effect on 1 July 2009. The second edition of the Guidelines is currently being translated into relevant community languages, and will be available for download in these languages from this website in 2011.

Labour Trafficking Factsheets

The labour trafficking factsheets are a practical tool that provide employers and employees with a guide to the steps they can take to combat forced labour and people trafficking. The factsheets were developed by a working group established by the National Roundtable on People Trafficking, and are another measure the government has taken to promote a whole-of-community approach to combating people trafficking.

Parliamentary Statements

For further information on People Trafficking, please contact the Department by email: peopletrafficking@ag.gov.au or telephone 02 6141 2778.