Human rights

We believe in respecting basic human rights in everything we do.

Human rights

Respecting and advancing human rights helps us to achieve our vision to help our customers, communities and people to prosper and grow, and reflects our belief that all people are entitled to basic rights and freedoms without discrimination.
 

We recognise that we have both a responsibility to respect human rights, and opportunities to positively impact human rights, across our value chain.
 

Our Human Rights Position Statement and 2023 Action Plan (PDF 765KB) outlines our approach and commitment to respecting human rights in our roles as a:
 

  1. Financial services provider;
  2. Lender;
  3. Employer;
  4. Purchaser of goods and services; and
  5. Supporter of communities.

Salient Human Rights

Salient human rights issues are the human rights at risk of the most severe negative impact through a company’s activities and business relations. The following salient human rights have been identified for Westpac:


Financial services provider

  • Customer vulnerability and hardship, customer safety and access.
  • Groups at risk including women, young people, people living with disability, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
  • Rights and wellbeing of children and young people.
  • Privacy risk including information security and data privacy.


Lender

  • Rights of Indigenous communities, and the issue of free, prior and informed consent.
  • Modern slavery including forced labour and child labour.

 

Employer

  • COVID-19 impacts on employees. Work related mental ill-health and workforce wellbeing.
  • Exclusion and discrimination in employment, diversity of employees and equal employment opportunity.

 

Purchaser of goods and services

  • Manufactured products or components with offshore supply chains in high-risk categories sourced from higher risk countries for human rights risks, including modern slavery.

 

We report on our salient human rights issues as part of our annual Sustainability Performance Reporting.

Modern slavery

Modern slavery covers a range of exploitative practices including human trafficking, slavery, forced labour, child labour and other slavery-like practices.
 

Our 2021 Modern Slavery Statement has been prepared to meet our reporting requirements under both the Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) and the United Kingdom’s Modern Slavery Act (2015) and describes the actions Westpac Group has taken to address modern slavery risk in both our operations and supply chains during the FY21 period.
 

Contact us

In the event of a concern or grievance, you can contact Westpac Group in the following ways:
 

 

Any member of the public is able to contact the Group Sustainability team via email sustainability@westpac.com.au or by post 275 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia.