Which case is the landmark Australian conviction for slavery under the Commonwealth Criminal Code?

• A. R v Chee Mei Wong [2013]
• B. R v Wei Tang [2008]
• C. R v Smith [2010]
• D. R v Tan [2009]

Answer: (B)

The question tests knowledge of the first, decisive use of the Commonwealth’s slavery provisions in the Criminal Code. R v Wei Tang [2008] is that landmark case. In Wei Tang, four Indonesian women were kept as domestic workers in Melbourne and subjected to conditions that the court found amounted to slavery and servitude under federal law—coercive control, exploitation, and significant restraint over their liberty and wages. This case established that the Commonwealth’s slavery offences can apply to private domestic work and that coercion and control, not just formal bonds or promises, are what define slavery under the Crime Code. It set the crucial precedent for how these federal offences are proven and applied, marking the turning point in Australia’s use of federal law to combat slavery-like exploitation. The other cases involve related issues or different contexts but do not carry the same pioneering significance for federal slavery convictions.