They urge the Albanese Government to take stronger action to safeguard fundamental human rights.

Jade Lane, chief executive of Change the Record, a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing the over-representation of First Nations people in prisons, stated they are urging every state and territory government to take appropriate measures for children and communities, advocating to increase the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14.

“These are all reflected across the Closing the Gap targets, indicating a clear failure by the Australian Government to meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”

Time for a reset

But in answer to a question on whether the Albanese Government would consider supporting an elected First Nations body, like the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples or ATSIC, a Government spokesperson said they had “made it clear before the referendum that if the referendum did not succeed, we would not proceed with a Voice”.

“The Albanese Government must take urgent action – including legislating an Australian Human Rights Act – to ensure everyone is treated with dignity, equality and respect.”

“The Albanese Government must urgently intervene in this crisis and choose care over cruelty for our kids.”

“Victoria’s treaty processes have shown the way, to implement UNDRIP, instil self-determination and respectful relations.”

UN scrutiny

Other significant human rights issues raised in the NGO report include offshore processing and mandatory immigration detention of people seeking asylum, failure to prevent human rights harms caused by climate change, segregation of people with disabilities in education, housing and employment, failure to address housing affordability and homelessness.