Australian Human Rights Commission disappointed with Australian Government’s response to major human rights review of Australia

The Australian Human Rights Commission has expressed concern about a lack of commitment by the Australian Government to address some key failings identified in a major review of Australia’s human rights performance.

Every 5 years, the United Nations Human Rights Council undertakes a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of every UN member state which examines the human rights records of each country. Through the UPR, other countries make recommendations to Australia for action to better protect human rights.

Overnight in Geneva, the Australian Government gave its response to 332 recommendations made earlier this year to improve Australia’s human rights standing. The Australian Government has accepted 128 of these recommendations or about 39%, the lowest rate of acceptance by an Australian Government since the UPR process began 20 years ago. On average, other countries accept approximately 73-76% of all recommendations received.

The Commission has criticised the government’s response as lacking ambition, with no new commitments to addressing a range of urgent and longstanding human rights concerns. Acting Commission President Dr Anna Cody: ‘The UPR highlighted some very serious human rights issues that Australia needs to address if we’re to live up to the standards for justice and fairness that people in Australia should enjoy and which we expect from other countries.

‘The government has only agreed to recommendations for reforms that are already in place or underway, essentially ignoring over 200 recommendations for new reforms which would markedly improve the rights, health and safety of our First Peoples, people with disability, women, children, people from diverse cultural backgrounds, LGBTIQA+ people and people in detention. This means the gap between our international commitments and our domestic practice is growing rather than narrowing, jeopardising our standing as a leader in human rights, particularly in our region.

‘Many of the recommendations also relate to making our governments more accountable, so the lack of response to these recommendations underscores growing concerns around the commitments of our national, state and territory governments to transparency and accountability.’

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commissioner Katie Kiss: ‘A key UN recommendation was to develop a national plan to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which would significantly improve all kinds of outcomes for First Peoples in this country, including those under the Closing the Gap National Agreement. This recommendation was ignored and it’s incredibly disappointing that this government is denying us important rights and protections that would help Indigenous Australians to be safe and strong.

‘Other recommendations which would address First Peoples deaths in custody, as well as improve the health and safety of our children and young people, were also ignored, further compounding the distress that First Peoples have about the lack of priority being given to our rights and wellbeing by this government.’

Disability Discrimination Commissioner Rosemary Kayess: ‘It is very concerning that the Australian Government has not committed to transitioning from segregated employment and sub-minimum wages to employment opportunities in the open labour market for people with disability, or to prohibiting the forced sterilisation and forced medical interventions experienced by people with disability.

‘We all value justice, equality and the right to control what happens to our bodies, and it’s clear that these practices have no place in modern Australia. So, it’s frustrating that the Australian Government has not committed to addressing these abuses of human rights.’

Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay: ‘The government has not accepted some recommendations that go to the core of Australia’s commitment to fundamental human rights principles, including respect for non-refoulement in refugee determinations and compliance with our obligations under the Optional Protocol on the Convention Against Torture through effective inspection mechanisms. This is deeply concerning and represents a step backwards from Australia’s longstanding human rights obligations.’

Acting Commission President Dr Anna Cody: ‘We tell the world we have a deep commitment to the multilateral system and the international rules-based order, as acknowledged by the Prime Minister recently at the UN General Assembly. We need to ensure that our government’s actions demonstrate our commitment to uphold the rights and dignity of all people in Australia.’

In April, the Commission released its first ever annual assessment of Australia’s track record on human rights. The 2026 Australian Human Rights Assessment called for governments across Australia to do more to build trust in our democracy, create unity among Australians and ensure safeguards against racism, violence, inequality, climate change and rapid advances in technology.

The Commission produced a 2026 Assessment report card to help highlight key issues where progress is being made as well as issues where action is required. The report card focuses on 6 themes: democratic freedoms; economic justice; racism and migration; First Peoples’ justice; safety; and equality and fairness. Read the 2026 Assessment report card. 

Australian Government response to UPR recommendations 

• The UPR recommendations can be found here.
• The Australian Government response to the recommendations can be found here.
• Below is a summary of the key recommendations that were accepted or noted by the Government. 

UPR recommendations accepted by the Australian Government

Key areas on which recommendations have been accepted are as follows:

• Continuing efforts to eliminate hate speech and hate crimes (recs: 49, 54, 57, 59-61, 64, 67, 86, 90)
• Measures to address racial discrimination (recs: 43, 55, 58, 63-67)
• Continued efforts to address human trafficking (recs: 103-109) but not by implementing recommendations of the McMillan Review (rec 110)
• Strengthen policies to improve housing affordability and address homelessness (rec 114) but not by adopting a national homelessness plan or facilitating housing for vulnerable groups (recs 115 and 116)
• Improving availability of health care in regions, as well as universal access to healthcare for sexual and reproductive health(recs: 117 – 121)
• Continue to implement climate adaptation and mitigation measures (rec 146) but not to accelerate its transition away from fossil fuels (rec 147), not to consider human rights implications of climate change (recs: 152-53, 155-56), not to ensure that climate and disaster risk policies prioritize vulnerable and remote communities, particularly in the Pacific region (rec 149)
• Continue efforts to address gender equality and gender based violence (recs: 162-65, 167-77, 179-182, 184-5, 187-89) but not to committing to ensure that all cases of gender-based violence are thoroughly investigated and with redress to victims (recs: 166, 183, 186)
• Continue efforts to address and prevent violence against children (recs: 227 – 231)
• Protect older persons from abuse and neglect (recs: 233-235) but not by legislating authority in decision making for older persons or by addressing discrimination in employment for older persons (recs: 236-7)
• Continuing to implement the National Disability Strategy (recs: 238-241) and address barriers to participation ( recs: 245-247)
• Continue to close the gap for Indigenous peoples (recs: 249-250, 252-53, 255, 258-63, 271, 274-75, 279-81, 290) and to address over-representation in criminal justice processes (recs: 264-68, 288, 291)
• To promote reconciliation and to protect the rights of indigenous peoples (recs: 276-78, 282, 285) but not by developing a national plan to implement UNDRIP (recs: 272-73, 283-4, 286-7)
• Address the exploitation of migrant workers (recs: 301-304)
• Ensuring that refugees are processed in according with the Refugee Convention and humanitarian frameworks (recs: 317, 319) but not by upholding the principle of non-refoulement or that international obligations for processing refugees are met (recs: 318, 320) 

UPR recommendations ‘noted’ by the Australian Government

The Australian Government had the opportunity to ‘accept’, ‘note for further consideration’ or ‘note’ each of the UPR recommendations. Recommendations that are ‘noted’ mean that there is no commitment by the Government back to the international community that any action will be taken.

Issues which have been ‘noted’ (no commitment to further consideration or action) include:

• Ratifying individual communications protocols to ICESCR and CRC (ie complaints processes): (recs: 13-16)
• Cooperating more constructively with United Nations human rights mechanisms in line with its international obligations (rec 17)
• Legislating a national Human Rights Act (Recs: 21-25, 27-29) and introducing a national human rights framework (recs:26, 28)
• Ensure that the newly established Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion comprehensively examines the drivers and impact of antisemitism, and work with the Jewish community implement the findings of the Royal Commission (rec: 40)
• Intensify efforts to address rising Islamophobia, with equal urgency as for other forms of discrimination (rec 62)
• Develop a national strategy to combat racism (recs:38,44, 51)
• Commit to eradicating racism against people of African descent (recs 70-72)
• Prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion at the federal level (rec 53, 95-97)
• Ensure all Australian jurisdictions have adequately funded, fully functional and operationally independent preventive mechanisms, in accordance with the OPCAT (recs: 17, 75, 76)
• Take measures to prevent solitary confinement practices (rec 78) and to reduce pretrial detention and work towards adopting alternatives to detention (rec 77)
• Investigate effectively, impartially and thoroughly the potentially unlawful deaths of persons deprived of their liberty (rec 82)
• Review protest laws to ensure they comply with human rights (rec 83, 87) and prevent excessive use of force (recs 92-3)
• Strengthen legal frameworks to protect whistle-blowers and human rights defenders (rec 89)
• Develop a national action plan on business and human rights (recs 157-159)
• Raise the age of criminal responsibility (recs: 190 – 215)
• Implement the recommendations of the Help way earlier! Report (rec: 226)
• Address discriminatory wage practices for people with disability (recs: 243-44)
• prohibit involuntary sterilization and forced non-therapeutic medical interventions on people with disability (rec: 248)
• Reform the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to address religious exemptions, which allow for discrimination against LGBTIQ+ persons in education and employment (recs: 294-96)
• limit the use and duration of immigration detention, expanding alternatives to detention (recs: 305-307)
• Ensure immigration policies are aligned with international obligations and reduce use of offshore processing (recs 308-313, 323-331)

Media contact

Email: media@humanrights.gov.au or phone: 0457 281 897