Australia should ban products made by Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in forced labour camps in western China, according to a key senate crossbencher.
South Australian independent Rex Patrick is calling on the Federal Government to follow the lead of the United States, where Congress has just passed legislation forcing companies to disclose details of their supply chains.
"We've seen a million Uyghurs locked up in China in internment camps, and they've been locked up for political purposes," Senator Patrick said.
"And now 80,000 of them have been moved into factories being used for slave labour to pay for that internment.
"I think some consumers are aware of slavery, and they're also aware of our laws that now try to stamp that out.
"Unfortunately, those laws don't capture everything."
China has been accused of "cultural genocide" with regards to Uyghurs and other minority Muslim populations.
Beijing rejects those claims, describing the camps as training facilities.
Earlier this year, a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute found dozens of major companies — including Apple, Nike and Uniqlo — had suppliers linked to forced labour camps.
The United States has been blacklisting companies in Xinjiang connected to human rights abuses, while a Four Corners investigation in 2019 prompted major Australian retailers to review their supply chains.
International authorities have been monitoring products coming from China, even going so far as to seize shipments of human hair believed to be from people locked in internment camps.
The independent senator believed there would be broad political support in Australia for such a ban, given the shocking reports emerging from Xinjiang.
He said he would introduce his own private senator's bill to outlaw the products if there was no action from the Government.
"I think the Government would find support in Labor, certainly amongst members of the crossbench," he said.
In November 2018, Australia's parliament passed legislation stamping out modern slavery, forcing companies with annual revenue of more than $100 million to report what they were doing to avoid the use of forced labour.
"We will also need legislation to directly ban these products for companies that are making turnovers less than that $100 million threshold," he said.
Australia has been critical of human rights abuses in Xinjiang in recent years, with reports of forced sterilisations and abortions of Uyghur women fuelling international debate.
