Modern slavery and high prison population w/ the ACT Party’s Simon Court: 2nd February, 2026

Last week the National Party’s Greg Fleming and Labour’s Camilla Belich put forward a member’s bill to address modern slavery. The bill would require businesses with over $1,000,000 of annual consolidated revenue to generate a report on whether any of their suppliers use modern slavery. 

Despite being a member’s bill, the bill will be heard in parliament next week thanks to gathering support from sixty non-cabinet MPs, the first time this process has been used. The ACT party did not support the bill, with leader David Seymour and deputy leader Brooke Van Velden levying multiple criticisms. 

Also this past week saw an announcement that the prison population in Aotearoa reached an all time high, despite reports of overcrowding and underfunding last year. 

For this week’s catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, Wire host Castor asked about each of these issues, beginning by asking about modern slavery.