Daintree Estates
On Track. Pays or is working towards a living wage, with gaps still to close.
Last researched 2 November 2026 · 4 sources
Single-origin chocolate bars from cocoa grown in Far North Queensland.
Daintree Estates gets its cocoa from Australia, where labour laws are strong and legal wages are about a living wage.
Also worth knowing
It carries the Australian Made label.
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Why it's graded On Track
- Not met: Meets 4 of 6 Good requirements.
- Met: No red flags.
Good requirements 4 of 6
- Met: Pays a living wage, or holds a strong fair-pay certificationLiving wage: presumed because legal wages in Australia are about a living wage, not checked at the company
- Met: Respects worker rights
- Met: Supply chain independently audited or certified, or at least 80% made in countries with strong labour standardsPresumed from where it's made, not audited
- Met: No child or forced labour findings or links
- Not met: Names the factories or farms that make its products, or is fully certified by a scheme that holds and audits that list
- Not met: Finds and fixes child labour on cocoa farms (Fairtrade, Fair for Life or its own published monitoring), and traces other high-risk ingredients where they're a major part of its range
Red flags 0
None found.
Stars it would earn as Good
None yet. Stars only show on Good companies. About stars
Accreditations 1
Estimates for its products
Our rules applied to one kind of product at a time, using Daintree Estates's evidence and, where it has product lines, that line's countries. They're estimates: we don't know which factory made any single item.
Chocolate: On Track, the same as Daintree Estates overall, because nothing we know differs between them.
- A product carrying the Fairtrade mark: Good
Holding one? Scan its barcode for an estimate that uses its care label or ingredients.
Where its cocoa is grown
Daintree Estates says which countries its cocoa comes from, but doesn't name the farms or co-operatives.
| Country | Worker rights | Legal minimum wage | Forced labour risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Strong protections | About a living wage | Low |
Evidence
What we found
- Risk across the industry, not a finding about this company: an estimated 1.5 million children work on cocoa farms in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, and most cocoa farmers earn well below a living income.
- It doesn't show that it checks cocoa farms for child labour and fixes what it finds.
Research notes Daintree Estates says its chocolate is Australian made from cocoa grown near the Daintree in Far North Queensland, and no imported cocoa is mentioned. The original company, set up by former cane farmers who held shares, went into administration in May 2025 and was liquidated that June. Creditors were not expected to be repaid. Its stock and IP were sold, and the brand now trades online in 2026 under Australian Cocoa & Chocolate Purveyors. The original company had outsourced manufacturing before it failed, and the current maker is not named. No staff numbers are published, and the business appears very small. No fair trade or other labour certification applies, and Australian farm and factory work is covered by Fair Work laws.
What independent sources say
| Source | Result | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Fairtrade (incl. FLOCERT and Fairtrade ANZ) | Not listed | No Fairtrade certification is claimed for Daintree Estates chocolate. View |
| US Department of Labor goods lists | Not listed | Australian cocoa is not on the US Department of Labor's list of goods made with child or forced labour. View |
| Chocolate Scorecard | Not covered | Daintree Estates is not known to be rated on the Chocolate Scorecard. View |
| Australian Modern Slavery Register | Not covered | No modern slavery statement found; the business is far below the reporting threshold. View |
| Business & Human Rights Resource Centre | Not listed | No labour allegations involving Daintree Estates were identified. View |
Sources and actions
Sources 4
Show all 4 sources
- Business News Australia – Homegrown origin chocolate pioneer enters liquidation as Daintree Estates crumbles (2025) · search the archive · Administrators appointed 1 May 2025; creditors voted to liquidate 5 June 2025; no return to creditors expected; stock and IP sold; cane-farmer cooperative origins in Mossman; manufacturing outsourced before administration.
- Cairns Local News – Sweet option to sugar cane (Feb 2026) · search the archive · Daintree Estates chocolate made from cocoa grown by an original grower near Port Douglas; co-founder Tim Davies now runs Australian Cocoa and Chocolate Purveyors; about 20ha of cocoa grown in Australia.
- Bean Bar You – Daintree Estates producer page · search the archive · Single-origin cocoa grown in Australia; growers were suppliers and shareholders.
Published by Daintree Estates or its owner
- Daintree Estates – Home · search the archive · Online store trading in 2026, operated by Australian Cocoa & Chocolate Purveyors (Upper Ferntree Gully, VIC); 'Australian made chocolate made from Australian cocoa grown locally'.
Company details
- Headquarters
- Australia
- Last researched
- 2 November 2026
- Cite this page
- Labour Lens, "Is Daintree Estates ethical? Labour rating", https://www.labourlens.net/brand/daintree-estates, last researched 2 November 2026, accessed [date].
- Method
- Researched with AI assistance against published rules. How we check · What On Track means
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Grades are opinions based on the evidence listed here. Send us evidence, or a right of reply if you represent Daintree Estates.