Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT)

Australia signed OPCAT in 2009. In December 2017, the government officially ratified OPCAT by lodging the ratification documents with the UN. In signing and ratifying OPCAT, the Australian government took a significant step towards establishing enhanced oversight of places of detention, and improvement in conditions.

As soon as Australia ratified OPCAT, it immediately requested to delay one of its key obligations for 3 years: establishing its National Preventive Mechanism (NPM).

This delay was allowed, with the deadline of 20 January 2022.

In December 2021, the Australian government asked for a 12-month extension, citing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The request was granted, and the deadline was extended to 20 January 2023.

Australia missed its extended deadline to comply with its obligations under OPCAT.

The Australian government elected for a multiple body monitoring system, meaning the Commonwealth, states and territories each choose their own independent bodies, known as NPMs

The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman was chosen to coordinate this national network and was established as the Commonwealth NPM.

As of May 2025, only 5 states and territories have nominated their NPMs and passed dedicated OPCAT legislation. New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria are yet to do so.

On 29 June 2020 the Commission published a final report titled Implementing OPCAT in Australia.

This report marked the end of a multi-year project that included broad consultation with the community, government and experts. This followed a request in 2017 from the then Commonwealth Attorney-General for us to lead a consultation on implementing OPCAT.

The report made 17 key recommendations to help guide Australia in implementing OPCAT.

In October 2022, a UN delegation from the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT) began its first official visit to Australia.

The visit was suspended after the SPT was denied access to detention facilities in New South Wales and Queensland.

On February 20, 2023, the SPT officially terminated the visit—a rare decision that has only happened in one other country, Rwanda.  Australia risks being put on a UN list of countries whose OPCAT compliance is substantially overdue, alongside a handful of countries such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan.

On 9 September 2022, we partnered with RMIT University's College of Business and Law to host a National OPCAT Symposium in Melbourne.

The event brought together people from across government departments, the community and academia to reflect on the progress made, the challenges remaining, and what still needed to be done for Australia to meet its OPCAT obligations by the extended deadline of 20 January 2023.

Nearly 200 people participated, including representatives from 43 oversight bodies and commissions of inquiry across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Watch the symposium

The insights from the symposium informed our 2022 Road Map to OPCAT Compliance report. It laid out a clear plan for governments across Australia to meet the extended compliance deadline of 20 January 2023.

The report included:

• 5 key recommendations to support effective implementation.
• Best practice principles and immediate steps to guide governments and oversight bodies.
• A clear pathway for what needed to happen before the compliance deadline.

The report was shared with the SPT and released during their 2022 (suspended and then cancelled) visit to Australia.

In May 2024 we co-hosted a training workshop with the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), the UK's National Preventive Mechanism, and the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

• The workshop supported existing members of Australia's National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) network.
• It brought together 31 participants from 12 NPM organisations across Australia.
• The event was also live-streamed to allow New Zealand NPM colleagues to participate.

The workshop focused on sharing international good practice, building skills, and strengthening collaboration across the NPM network.