Equality and fairness

Inequality continues to affect many groups in Australia.

More needs to be done to ensure everyone in Australia has equal opportunity to live well, regardless of their gender, disability, race, age or other identity.

In relation to this assessment:

• Recent human rights advances = where governments have positively advanced human rights
• Urgent human rights issues = where serious human rights concerns exist and are not being addressed sufficiently
• Other priority human rights issues = where further action is required to address known human rights challenges

Recent human rights advances

• The Australian Government has expanded gender equality reporting (through the Workplace Gender Equality Agency) and establishing gender budgeting processes. The gender pay gap is reducing.
• The Australian Government has accepted recommendations of the Disability Royal Commission to reform the Disability Discrimination Act to better protect persons with disability. National consultations have now occurred with draft legislation expected in 2026/27.

Urgent human rights issues

• Transphobia and anti-LGBTIQA+ hate in Australia is rising, influenced by global trends.
• Too many people with disability remain segregated in education, housing and employment settings without adequate progress to change this. Below award wages remain lawful, providing discriminatory payment schemes for people with disability in employment.
• There has been inadequate progress under Australia’s Disability Strategy in improving services for people with disability outside of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. States and Territories in particular have under-invested in services for people with disability in schooling, home and community care, mental health and early childhood interventions. There remains an overuse of restrictive practices on people with disability in residential services, education and aged care settings. People with disability remain over-represented in prisons.
• There are decreasing rates of school attendance and increasing rates of under-attendance and disengagement from school, with impacts on children's future employment opportunities and community participation. Attendance rates are lower for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children in remote areas.
• There has been a lack of action to reform the Sex Discrimination Act to narrow the scope of exemptions for religious schools to protect LGBTIQA+ students and staff.
• There has been a lack of action to establish federal legal protections against discrimination on the grounds of religion.

Other priority human rights issues

• People over 55 years continue to experience high rates of stereotyping and discrimination in employment and care settings.
• Inadequate resourcing is impacting timelines and contributing to backlogs in the handling of discrimination complaints by the Commission, undermining access to justice and exacerbating inequality and unfairness.
• Human rights have not been sufficiently addressed in times of natural disaster or emergency, with lessons still to be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and included in national emergency management frameworks.

Find out more

For information about the purpose and methodology of this assessment, please visit our Australian Human Rights Assessment 2026 page.