First Peoples communities continue to be the hardest hit by "populist, blunt and harmful" laws, the Australian Human Rights Commission says.
While there has been progress on some Closing the Gap targets — including early childhood education, jobs and land rights — overall, only four of the 19 targets remain on track.
Data shows suicide, incarceration, developmental outcomes and children in out-of-home care (OOHC) are worsening, with another five improving but not on track.
In 2025, the national imprisonment rate reached 2,500.2 per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults — 16.7 times that of non-Indigenous adults. For children and young people, the disparity is 23.4 times higher.
Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) President Hugh de Kretser cited incarceration and OOHC as two areas that are a direct result of "choices by governments".
In a speech at the National Press Club last week to coincide with the release of the AHRC's 2026 Australia human rights assessment, Mr de Kretser said these "populist, blunt and harmful law and order policies" are made at the expense of "community safety policies that have been proven to work".
"At the same time as we are banning children under 16 from having social media accounts, the age of criminal responsibility in most of the country is 10," he said. "This means that primary school-age children can be arrested, prosecuted and locked up."
State and territory governments — most notably the NT and Queensland — have implemented "harsh and punitive" criminal justice laws and policies in recent years, the AHRC noted, which have had a significant and detrimental impact on First Peoples, including children, young people and people with disability.
Queensland, Victoria and the NT have passed legislation eliminating detention as a last resort when sentencing children for some crimes — against the recommendations of the Indigenous deaths in custody royal commission — while children are also regularly held in solitary confinement.
Labelling them "lazy non-solutions", Mr de Kretser said it is Indigenous communities who are "hit hardest by these laws".
"We know that affected communities are best placed to design and implement the solutions to the challenges they face," he said.
"They need to be supported and empowered to do so - rather than having inflexible policies imposed on them from afar."
Acknowledging federal leadership in establishing the National Commissioner for Indigenous children, he called on the government to "show national leadership on this issue by raising the age of criminal responsibility under federal criminal law to 14 and then work with the other jurisdictions to follow suit".
Last month, Nerita Waight, acting chair of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS), said youth justice issues were a "crisis" requiring government intervention.
"We urge the Prime Minister — don't waste this opportunity," she said. "We need an emergency summit on youth justice. This is one tangible step you can take towards honouring your commitment to reconciliation with First Nations people."
View this post on Instagram
Last month, more than 200 lawyers, academics, advocates and Indigenous organisations signed an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, urging him to treat the over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children as a national emergency.
In response, a government spokesperson said "only states and territories can set justice policies" and that "where we can, we are working to support early intervention diversion and, importantly, reduce recidivism".
That position appears to contradict legal advice obtained last year by the Justice and Equity Centre from barristers Kate Eastman AM SC and Emma Dunlop, which found the Commonwealth could intervene under section 51(xxix) of the Constitution to meet its international human rights obligations.
Mr de Kretser added that the federal government needs to develop an action plan to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) — endorsed by Australia in 2009 and recommended by parliament's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Committee in 2023 — into law.
In November 2023, after a 12-month process, the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs inquiry into UNDRIP recommended the Commonwealth ensure all legislation and policy "be consistent with the Articles outlined" in the declaration, and establish an independent process of truth-telling and agreement-making "to support healing and assist implementation".
Last week, the Healing Foundation — which amplifies the voices of Stolen Generations survivors and their families — said the failure to implement UNDRIP continues to have a profound and lasting impact on survivors, often described as the "gap within the gap" for Indigenous Australians.
Despite Australia's obligations under international human rights conventions, the foundation said the failure to implement UNDRIP denies survivors the "protections, remedies and dignity they are owed".
