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 1MB) 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 as our current key focus areas:


Financial services provider

  • Customers experiencing vulnerability due to COVID-19, serious illness and natural disasters, including bushfires
  • Use of our services to adversely impact on human rights
  • Access to services by Indigenous populations
  • Information security and data privacy


Lender

  • Labour rights and land-related human rights

 

Employer

  • Work related mental ill-health
  • Exclusion and discrimination

 

Purchaser of goods and services

  • Unfair wages and working conditions
  • Modern slavery in our operations and supply chain

 

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.
 

With the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act in Australia, we are working to identify areas of uplift required to meet its requirements. We will be publishing our first Australian Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement in 2021, reporting on our activities for the FY20 period. Due to our operations in the UK, we have been reporting in accordance with the UK Modern Slavery Act since 2016.
 

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.