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Advocacy, Manufacturing

An update on Ethical Clothing Australia’s advocacy work in New South Wales

The Social Outfit 18.09.24 22 copy

Procurement practices of government agencies in New South Wales and its impact on the social development of the people of New South Wales

The Standing Committee on Social Issues launched an Inquiry into Procurement practices of government agencies in New South Wales and its impact on the social development of the people of New South Wales in October 2023. The Social Issues Committee is chaired by The Hon. Dr Sarah Kaine.

Ethical Clothing Australia submitted evidence to this inquiry, making a number of recommendations including recommending that the NSW Government adopt a policy mandating the procurement of locally made Textile, Clothing, and Footwear (TCF) products and Ethical Clothing Australia accreditation is a minimum requirement for businesses to tender for government contracts1. 

The final report from this Committee, Procurement practices of government agencies in New South Wales and its impact on the social development of the people of New South Wales was published on 11 October 2024. Among its recommendations, the Committee recommended: 

  • That the NSW Government implement strategies, and leverage its procurement power and practices, to build, support and promote innovation by local businesses, particularly small businesses, to ensure they have the capacity and skills to participate in government procurement processes, including by: 
      • identifying opportunities for tenders to be broken down into smaller parts, to enable small businesses to partner with others for tender processes  
      • lifting awareness of existing supports for innovation in local businesses 
      • providing greater support for small businesses to develop capacity, skills and expertise to participate in government procurement opportunities 

The Committee also recommended that the NSW Government conduct compliance history checks prior to awarding contracts and recommended the adoption of industry codes or frameworks to promote compliance.  

Ethical Clothing Australia welcomes these recommendations but encourages the NSW Government to incorporate the Ethical Clothing Australia accreditation program as a the minimum standard to ensure compliance with labour standards in their procurement policy. The NSW Government’s response to the final report is due on 10 January 2025.

Ethical Clothing Extended Responsibilities Scheme (2005)

The Ethical Clothing Extended Responsibilities Scheme 2005 (NSW) was created to protect TCF workers in New South Wales, with a focus on outworkers. The Scheme sought to place mandatory obligations on retailers to create a system of transparency and ensure that outworkers in their TCF supply chain receive legal wages and entitlements. If the supply chain member was accredited with Ethical Clothing Australia, this meant they had met their reporting obligations. The Scheme has not been consistently enforced since its inception, and in December 2023, the Modern Slavery Committee launched an Inquiry into the Scheme.

This Inquiry aimed to determine whether the Scheme can adequately mitigate modern slavery in the TCF industry. The Committee found that outworkers are at significant risk of exploitation and modern slavery, and that there are challenges in protecting workers in the industry due to the complexity of supply chains, nature of the work, and demographics of workers2. It also found that the Scheme “…remains a valid state instrument in protecting outworkers and promoting compliance with the federal award and other legal entitlements”3. 

As part of his submission, the NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner Dr James Cockayne suggested integrating the Scheme and Ethical Clothing Australia’s Code into the NSW Government’s procurement of TCF products4.   

Ethical Clothing Australia made a submission to this Inquiry, requesting investment from the NSW Government to grow the accreditation program in New South Wales to help support the goals of the Scheme. You can read a summary of the submission here.  

The second report of the Inquiry was released in August 2024. It recommended that the NSW Government revive the Scheme and consider funding Ethical Clothing Australia  to support retailers to meet their obligations under the Scheme while also driving participation in the Ethical Clothing Australia accreditation program by businesses in NSW5.  

Ethical Clothing Australia welcomes these recommendation by the Modern Slavery Committee. We await the response from the NSW Government, which is due to be released on 8 November 2024.