HumanTrafficking.org | Australia Government Agency: Attorney-General's Department

A web resource for combating human trafficking

Australia

Attorney-General's Department

Address

Criminal Justice Division
Attorney-General's Department
Robert Garran Offices
National Circuit
BARTON ACT 2601
Australia

Contact Information

If calling from Australia:

Tel: 02 6250 6666
Fax: 02 6250 5900

If calling from overseas:

Tel: +61 2 6250 6666
Fax: +61 2 6250 5900

Website

http://www.ag.gov.au

Email

Ag@Ag.gov.au

Activities

The Attorney-General’s Department serves the people of Australia by providing essential expert support to the Government in the maintenance and improvement of Australia's system of law and justice. The Department is the central policy and coordinating element of the portfolio, for which the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Customs are responsible.

The Department’s Criminal Justice Division manages a number of Australia’s counter-trafficking initiatives. It also coordinated the enhancement of Australian anti-trafficking measures announced on 13 October 2003.

Specific work includes:

Commonwealth criminal offences:

The Department has reviewed and revised Australia's already very strict offences to ensure that trafficking is comprehensively criminalized, using the definition of trafficking in Article 3 of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. Divisions 270 and 271 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code contain Australia's trafficking offences. These offences impose severe penalties of up to 25 years imprisonment for slavery, sexual servitude and deceptive recruiting for sexual services offences. Click here to access the Criminal Code.

Community Awareness: To assist in the domestic prevention and deterrence of trafficking, the Australian Government has provided funding to encourage greater awareness of issues related to trafficking, the reporting of suspicious activity, and the availability of support for victims.

The community awareness strategy will target victims of trafficking who are working in the legal or illegal sex industry in Australia, as well as people who are likely to come into contact with them, such as other prostitutes, clients, brothel owners and managers, brothel regulators, migration agents, prostitute outreach organizations and sexual health service providers.

The strategy will also encourage greater awareness of people trafficking issues in the general community by working with the media to address trafficking in a responsible, culturally appropriate and context-sensitive manner. A range of information will be produced and disseminated, including indications of trafficking, victims’ rights and available assistance and support. In addition, the strategy will seek to sensitize clients of the sex industry to the situation of women who are trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

It will initially focus on the major metropolitan centers of Sydney and Melbourne, where it is thought that most victims of trafficking in Australia are located. The Attorney-General’s Department is responsible for managing the community awareness strategy.

Australian ratification of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children: The Australian Government ratified the Trafficking Protocol on 14 September 2005 after the passage of new anti-trafficking offences, and the approval of extradition regulations made under the Extradition Act 1988 and mutual assistance regulations created under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1987.

For access to the Commonwealth Action Plan to Eradicate Trafficking, you may access the following link which may be of assistance. The measures introduced in 2003 have now been fully implemented.