Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe's motion to have the Attorney-General provide quarterly reports on deaths in custody has successfully passed the Senate, despite government opposition.

The motion read: "That there be laid on the table by the minister representing the Attorney-General, statements which detail, by state and territory, the number of: deaths in custody, including breakdown by age groups and cause of death; ongoing coronial inquests; incidents of self-harm in custodial settings; and miscarriages and stillbirths in custodial settings."

It said the statements would be due "not later than the tenth day after the end of the preceding three-month period commencing 1 January, 1 April, 1 July, and 1 October".

On Thursday the motion passed with the support of all non-government senators, but was rejected by Labor, with calls of "shame" heard coming from Senator Thorpe as the division was called.

I just successfully passed a motion to make the Attorney-General provide quarterly reports to the Senate about deaths in custody, ongoing coronial inquests, incidents of self-harm, miscarriages and stillbirths in prisons.

Everyone supported this motion except Labor. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/UIt2qR7p5A

— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) September 19, 2024

On X (formerly Twitter), the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung Senator's stated: "I just successfully passed a motion to make the Attorney-General provide quarterly reports to the Senate about deaths in custody, ongoing coronial inquests, incidents of self-harm, miscarriages, and stillbirths in prisons."

"Everyone supported this motion except Labor," Senator Thorpe said.

She was critical of Labor and "particularly the Minister for Indigenous Australians [Malarndirri McCarthy]" for voting against the bill.

Labor members are required to vote along party lines.

"It shows how much Labor want to ignore what's happening to our people," Senator Thorpe said.

"Regular reporting will mean federal politicians can't keep hiding the truth about abuses occurring in prisons."

Before the motion was voted on, Minister for women and Manager of Government Business in the Senate, Katy Gallagher, urged Senators not to vote for the bill, despite accepting the rates of incarcerated First Nations people, as well as deaths in custody, was "unacceptable".

"In 2023 the government established a national real time death in custody dashboard available on the Australian Institute of Criminology website," Senator Gallagher said.

"The dashboard provides information on all deaths occurring in the police and in prison custody as well as in youth detention, this important transparency measure is already in place.

"States and territories, not the Commonwealth, hold the information that Senator Thorpe is calling for in this motion.

"In addition, it is not a reasonable request, nor is it possible for the Attorney-General to table information about ongoing coronial inquests."

The motion comes after the Greens successfully established a Senate inquiry into youth justice and detention systems across the country earlier this month.

Last month, a 17-year-old boy died in Banksia Hill Youth Justice Centre, the second death of a child in WA in the ward of the state in less than a year.

There have been 15 Indigenous deaths in custody since the start of the year.