Supplier Code of Conduct

Next Technologies (Australia) Pty Ltd  |  ABN 63 003 209 603
Version 1.0  |  Effective 23 September 2026  |  Next review 23 September 2027

This Code sets out what we expect of the businesses that supply goods and services to Next Technologies. It applies to every supplier, and to their own suppliers and subcontractors to the extent they contribute to what we receive.

1. Purpose

Next Technologies supplies IT hardware, software and services to schools, aged care providers and enterprises across Australia. Our customers expect us to know who is in our supply chain and on what terms the people in it are working. This Code sets out what we expect of our suppliers.

We are a small business and we are realistic about our leverage. What we ask for is proportionate: that you meet the law, that you can tell us how you do it, and that you hold your own suppliers to the same standard.

2. Application

This Code applies to every supplier of goods or services to Next Technologies, and to your own suppliers, subcontractors and labour providers to the extent they contribute to what you supply to us.

Where you have your own supplier code, modern slavery policy or published standards that meet or exceed this Code, those may be relied on instead. Tell us and provide them. We do not ask you to duplicate work.

3. What we expect

3.1 No modern slavery

You do not use, permit or knowingly benefit from slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour, forced marriage, debt bondage, deceptive recruiting for labour or services, or human trafficking, in any part of your operations or supply chain.

3.2 No child labour

• You do not engage any person below the age for completing compulsory schooling in their jurisdiction, and in no case any person under 15.
• No person under 18 performs hazardous work, night work, or extended hours.

3.3 Freely chosen employment

• Workers are free to leave on reasonable notice, without penalty, fee or deduction, and without lodging a deposit or bond.
• You do not retain, confiscate, destroy or withhold a worker's identity or immigration documents.
• Neither you nor any recruiter acting for you charges a worker or prospective worker any recruitment fee or cost. Recruitment costs are borne by the employer.

3.4 Lawful wages, hours and conditions

• Workers are paid at least the legal minimum for their jurisdiction, including all applicable award or agreement rates, loadings, penalties, allowances and superannuation, and are paid on time.
• Hours of work, overtime and rest breaks comply with the law that applies to them.
• Deductions are lawful, authorised and not used as a disciplinary measure.

3.5 Written terms and fair treatment

• Every worker has written terms of engagement in a language they understand, provided before they start.
• Workers are free to join a trade union, bargain collectively and assemble peacefully.
• Workers are not discriminated against, bullied or harassed, at any stage of the working relationship including recruitment and exit.
• Workers have a safe workplace and a way to raise a concern without fear of retaliation.

3.6 Your own supply chain

You take reasonable steps to hold your own suppliers, subcontractors and labour providers to standards equivalent to this Code, and you can tell us what those steps are.

3.7 Written standards

You have written policies covering the matters in this section. If your business is too small to maintain formal policies, confirm in writing instead that you meet them. The acknowledgement at section 8 is that confirmation, and it is enough.

4. Where we know the risk is highest

We apply more attention to suppliers in sectors where labour exploitation is well documented. For our business that means cleaning, security, labour hire, transport and courier services, trades and building services, warehousing, and offshore software development.

If you supply in one of these areas, expect the questions in section 5 to be asked properly rather than as a formality.

For electronics and IT hardware, our exposure sits upstream of our direct suppliers, in manufacturing and component sourcing. We have no direct relationship with manufacturers. What we ask of our distributors and vendors is transparency about what they do at their own tiers.

5. Information we may ask for

At onboarding we ask you to sign the acknowledgement at section 8. For most suppliers that is the whole of it, and we will not come back to you every year.

We may ask for more where the service you provide sits in one of the higher-risk areas in section 4, where what you supply us changes materially, or where something gives us a reason to ask. In that case any one of the following satisfies us:

• Complete our supplier modern slavery questionnaire. One form, about ten minutes. Download the questionnaire (PDF), at the foot of this page. You can type straight into it, save it, and email it back.
• Provide your current modern slavery statement. If you are a reporting entity under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) with a current statement on the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Register, that satisfies this Code and we will simply record that we have reviewed it. No questionnaire is required.
• Provide your own supplier code or equivalent standards together with a short confirmation that they cover the matters in section 3.

Where it is relevant to what you supply us, we may also ask for evidence of award, agreement or legal minimum wage coverage for the workers who perform the work, confirmation of whether that work is done by your employees or by subcontractors, and the outcome of any audit you have had.

We do not audit suppliers on site and we do not ask for commercially sensitive information.

6. Raising a concern

If you or any of your workers becomes aware of modern slavery connected to what you supply us, tell us. You can raise it with your Next Technologies contact or with the Managing Director. Suppliers and their employees are eligible whistleblowers under Part 9.4AAA of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), and our Whistleblower Policy and its protections are available to you. A copy is available on request.

7. If these standards are not met

Where we identify a breach of this Code, or a credible risk of one, we will raise it with you and give you a reasonable opportunity to respond. Depending on what we find we may:

• ask for further information or a corrective action plan with agreed timeframes;
• suspend new orders or engagements pending resolution;
• end the supply relationship; and
• where the law requires it or the circumstances warrant it, report the matter to the relevant authority.

Our preference is to work with a supplier to fix a problem rather than to walk away, particularly where the workers affected would be worse off if we left. Ending the relationship is a last resort, not a first response.

8. Accepting this Code

Where we ask for it as part of onboarding, an authorised representative confirms in writing that the supplier has read this Code and that, to the best of their knowledge, the supplier meets the standards in section 3, and that they will tell Next Technologies if that ceases to be the case.

The acknowledgement form is included in the questionnaire, and we will send it to you if we need it.

Questions

Speak to your Next Technologies contact, or write to us at Unit 43, 9 Salisbury Road, Castle Hill NSW 2154.