Modern Slavery Policy

Scope

Modern Slavery is a crime and violation of human rights and is defined under the Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018 (the Act) as including eight types of serious exploitation – trafficking in persons; slavery; servitude; forced marriage; forced labour; debt bondage; deceptive recruiting for labour or services; and the worst forms of child labour which means situations where children are subjected to slavery or similar practices, or engaged in hazardous work.

The purpose of this Policy at Catalyst is to raise awareness about modern slavery, showcase our commitment to zero tolerance for any form of modern slavery and to ensure our compliance with the Act so we can prevent, detect and respond to the risks of modern slavery in / while conducting our business. This applies to our company employees as well as other entities we work with including our business partners, suppliers and our clients.

Catalyst IT Australia are operating only in Australia with a turnover of under AUS$100 million. This statement is, therefore, a voluntary statement of intent reflecting the values of our company rather than a legal requirement.

Any questions about this Policy may be directed to:

The Company Policies Officer

PO Box 1480, Deewhy NSW 2099

email to: privacy.officer@catalyst-au.net

Catalyst IT Australia Modern Slavery Policy Statement

Catalyst IT has a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery. We are committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking violations in our own operations, our supply chain, and our products. We require our supply chain to comply with our values.

It is part of our company values that we always act ethically and with integrity in all our business operations and if required, we will implement effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our own business or among our wider stakeholder network including business partners, suppliers and clients. Catalyst take reasonable due diligence, with respect to our company size and turnover, to identify potential risks in our business and supply chain and reduce that risk where appropriate.

Catalyst IT Australia Modern Slavery Risks

Catalyst IT Australia does not operate in countries that are considered high risk on the matter of modern slavery. In addition to our Australian branch, we have presence in the UK, Europe (Ireland), Canada and New Zealand. Given the labour market in the countries we operate in is highly regulated, we consider our company risk of being subject to modern slavery is extremely low or non existent.

We strengthen our commitment to ethical business practices further through leadership, staff training, transparency and inclusive company culture.

In addition, we hold the highest standard of cyber security accreditation in Australia – ISO9001 and ISO/IEC27001 maintenance of which require compliance with strict rules and highly ethical business practices, including internal operations and supplier management.

Supply Chain / Partnership Standards

We work with business partners and suppliers whose values align with ours and whose tolerance for modern slavery is also zero. We educate our people at all levels in the business about ethical business practices and encourage our people to report any concerns or suspicious activities among our stakeholders which may classify as modern slavery.

Existing Processes / Governance

We provide education (raising awareness) on the importance of such issues as modern slavery among our staff, facilitate safe environment for individual staff to raise concerns and encourage information sharing. If anyone at any time feels that an operational decision potentially presents a risk, the matter can be raised in any of our regular team meetings and then referred to our board for further investigation.

The prevention, detection and reporting of modern slavery in any part of our business is the responsibility of all our employees. We encourage our people to raise concerns with their manager about any likely modern slavery breaches in any parts of the Catalyst business operations, at the earliest possible stage.

We expect the same high standards from all our business partners and any of our contracting processes will include specific prohibitions against the use of forced, compulsory or trafficked labour, or anyone held in slavery or servitude, whether adults or children, and expect suppliers to hold their own suppliers to the same high standards. Catalyst do not tolerate slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains. Where there is evidence of failure to comply with these values, we will seek to terminate our relationship with that supplier.

What will we do next to further reduce the risk of modern slavery in our business operations?

We will add the link to our Modern Slavery Policy in our on-boarding training content.
We will add a copy of this policy to the Catalyst internal wiki and on the Catalyst IT Australia website.
We will update our tender and any other relevant documents / agreements between ourselves and third party entities to include our Modern Slavery Statement, expectations and/or questionnaire to ensure we continue to monitor and assess our risk in this matter.
We will review our procurement policies and procedures to ensure inclusion of the modern slavery clauses.
We will update our standard procurement agreements to include contractual obligations to address modern slavery compliance so that all new suppliers commit to adherence to the modern slavery requirements.
We will continue to raise awareness of modern slavery among our employees, partners and suppliers.
We will continue to review our policies and procedures to ensure sound governance practices that align with our zero tolerance to modern slavery; and adjust them as required (as our organisation grows or undergoes any changes).

Review

This policy is reviewed at least annually and more frequently if required. All changes to the policy are reviewed and approved by our leadership team.

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