Australia's response to international scrutiny of its human rights record has been condemned by Indigenous legal advocates, who say the federal government is ignoring mounting evidence of systemic racism and failing to uphold its obligations to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The criticism from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) follows the federal government's decision last week to reject most United Nations recommendations aimed at improving outcomes for First Nations people, including calls to raise the age of criminal responsibility, implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and introduce a national human rights act.
In its response to the fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) before the UN Human Rights Council, Australia accepted just 128 of 332 recommendations — fewer than 40 per cent. That is a lower acceptance rate than the 2021 review, when the former Coalition government accepted 51 per cent.
Among the rejected recommendations were calls from countries including Germany, Norway and France to raise the age of criminal responsibility and strengthen protections for Indigenous rights, despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people remaining vastly overrepresented in the prison system and facing increasing levels of racial abuse and violence.
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NATSILS chair Nerita Waight said the government's refusal to accept most of the recommendations demonstrated a lack of leadership on the safety and wellbeing of First Nations people.
"Ignoring recommendations does not change the evidence," Ms Waight said. "Our children are being locked up at staggering rates, and things are getting worse."
In 2025, the national imprisonment rate reached 2,500.2 per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults — 16.7 times the rate for non-Indigenous adults. For children and young people, the incarceration rate was 23.4 times higher.
The UN Human Rights Council's review raised concerns about racism and discrimination, "inadequate" mental health care in prisons, and Australia's "continued use of prolonged and indefinite solitary confinement".
It was particularly critical of Australia's youth detention system, with the Committee against Torture finding the age of criminal responsibility remains 10 in most jurisdictions. It also found children in detention had been "subjected to verbal abuse and racist remarks and restrained in ways that were potentially dangerous", while young people continued to be held in solitary confinement.
Earlier this year, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, responding to a complaint lodged by Professors Megan Davis and Hannah McGlade, found evidence of racial discrimination in Australia. It cited the disproportionate imprisonment of Indigenous young people, racial profiling, over-policing and ill-treatment in detention.
The committee also expressed grave concern about the reported "inadequate conditions and healthcare services in detention facilities for children, detention of Indigenous children with adults and holding them in solitary confinement for prolonged duration, ill-treatment and the use of spit hoods, and cases of self-harm and suicide by Indigenous children in detention".
Ms Waight said Australia continued to ignore its international human rights obligations despite repeated criticism.
"In the past six months, Australia has been called out by three United Nations Committees and Working Groups for reports and evidence of systemic racism and human rights violations," she said.
"Australia is being consistently reprimanded on the world stage, but our Prime Minister continues to be missing in action."
In its written response to the UPR, the federal government acknowledged it "must do more to address the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the criminal justice system" and said it was "committed to improving youth justice outcomes".
However, it declined to support raising the age of criminal responsibility nationally. In all but two Australian jurisdictions, children as young as 10 can still be imprisoned.
Human Rights Watch Australia researcher Annabel Hennessy said the government's response was inconsistent with its stated commitment to human rights.
"For years, other countries have called on Australia to stop incarcerating children as young as 10, end the offshore detention of asylum seekers, and take real action on climate change, yet Australia still refuses to act," she said.
Last month, National Indigenous Times reported on internal government documents outlining federal talking points used to resist calls to raise the age of criminal responsibility, despite legal advice stating the Commonwealth has the constitutional power to legislate.
The advice, obtained last year by the Justice and Equity Centre from barristers Kate Eastman AM SC and Emma Dunlop, concluded the Commonwealth could intervene under section 51(xxix) of the Constitution to meet Australia's international human rights obligations.
The documents showed the government declined to engage with that advice while maintaining that criminal justice is primarily the responsibility of states and territories.
Ms Waight said the Prime Minister should exercise the Commonwealth's powers.
"The Prime Minister needs to step up and show leadership. He has the power to act and make laws that are in line with international obligations on children's rights," she argued.
"He must take action because state and territory governments are enacting laws that make communities more dangerous and cause profound harm to children and communities."
There are currently no penalties for states and territories that breach the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, despite several jurisdictions introducing laws critics say undermine its commitments.
Queensland and the Northern Territory have both resisted federal calls to align their youth justice laws with Closing the Gap targets.
Last year, Northern Territory Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said her government "acknowledges" the agreement, but it "cannot come at the expense of community safety".
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also appeared to support the tougher approach taken by some jurisdictions. In his Closing the Gap address in February, he said they "have every right to put the safety of their communities first".
Ms Waight said Australia had reached a point where other nations were publicly condemning its human rights record and the treatment of First Nations children.
"The Prime Minister not only has the legal authority to act — he has the moral responsibility to," she said. "The time to act is now."
