Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans says the court case of a Melbourne man convicted of intentionally possessing a slave has shown the importance of frontline health workers being able to identify and respond to indicators of exploitation.
The Victorian County Court last month found Chee Kit “Max” Chong guilty of slavery and assault offences following evidence of sustained exploitation, coercion and severe abuse of a vulnerable woman.
The case has prompted calls for strengthening awareness and capability amongst first responders, particularly in healthcare.
Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner Chris Evans acknowledged the role frontline healthcare workers played in identifying the abuse.
A key witness was St Vincent’s Hospital nurse Eve Wintergreen, who treated the victim in 2022 when she presented to emergency.
St Vincent’s Health Australia began working with ACRATH in 2017 to raise awareness of modern slavery through the Advocates for Change program.
Three years ago, SVHA received Commonwealth funding to develop a screening tool and learning modules for upskilling frontline healthcare staff in identifying patients experiencing different forms of modern slavery, including domestic servitude, debt bondage, forced labour and sexual exploitation.
Commenting on the significance of the Melbourne court case and conviction, Ms Wintergreen, who is SVHA’s Anti-Modern Slavery Project Manager, and Tarang Jain, SVHA Modern Slavery Liaison Officer, said the trial exposed how exploitation can happen to anyone.
“Many in our Australian community don’t yet understand that these crime types are happening in all of our neighbourhoods, suburbs and electorates,” they said.
“People think that modern slavery involves kidnapping someone off the street, or chaining them up in a basement, but may not understand it can happen in different ways.”
Ms Wintergreen and Ms Jain said ACRATH had been instrumental in helping SVHA recognise the importance of making “dignity-affirming care to those experiencing slavery” its core business.
“Their trainings initially gave a handful of ‘champions’ across the service the skills to see what was unseeable, and to hear what was unhearable,” they said.
ACRATH’s community development project officer, Melissa Halliday, said the long-term partnership with SVHA demonstrated the importance of cross-sector collaboration and how it can lead to deep education, but also to system change.
“The partnership has also allowed us more deeply explore how patients who have experienced modern slavery present in health care settings, adding to the broader knowledge base and understanding of modern slavery as a public health issue in Australia,” Ms Halliday said.
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