The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner has called for a national Human Rights Act, stronger government accountability and a new national representative body for First Nations peoples in a new report.
The report, tabled in federal parliament last week by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss, draws on consultations with around 1,600 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations across 41 locations nationwide.
'A Fair and Just Future for First Peoples: Social Justice Report 2025' outlines priorities identified through the Australian Human Rights Commission's Informing the Agenda project, including justice reform, tackling racism, strengthening community-controlled organisations and improving accountability for Closing the Gap commitments.
Kiss said the report was intended to reflect the voices of First Nations people following the defeat of the Voice to Parliament referendum.
"It is a reflection on the voices, the concerns, the priorities and the solutions of First Peoples from across the country," she told NITV.
"I'm grateful that it's out there. I'm grateful that it's done. But I'm also proud of the fact that this is a reflection and a contribution made by First Peoples."
The consultation process began after Kiss took up the role of Social Justice Commissioner.
"On the back of the Voice referendum, I wanted to make sure that I had a firm grounding in what the issues were that First Peoples are dealing with in their everyday lives," she said.
Kiss said communities reported increased experiences of racism following the referendum, alongside concerns governments were stepping back from commitments around treaty, truth-telling and Indigenous advisory structures.
"We know that governments were taking steps back in terms of the commitments that they'd made towards resolving Indigenous issues," she said.
Representative body recommended
Among the report's recommendations is the establishment of a new national representative body for First Nations people.
Kiss said while the Social Justice Commissioner's reports had provided a platform for Indigenous voices for three decades, they were not a substitute for permanent representation.
"We would prefer there to be a formal national representative structural arrangement where First Peoples can feed into parliamentary processes, can be informing decisions that impact First Peoples, can be leading discussions and decisions that are about their futures," she said.
The report argues that, in the absence of the Voice, a new representative structure is needed to enable First Nations participation in decisions affecting Indigenous Australians.
Push for Human Rights Act
The report also renews calls for a national Human Rights Act.
Kiss said many Australians mistakenly believed existing anti-discrimination laws provided comprehensive human rights protections.
"We have discrimination acts which help to prohibit discrimination, but it doesn't prevent the breaches of human rights violations," she said.
She said a Human Rights Act would embed Australia's international human rights obligations into domestic law and provide stronger protections for everyone.
"Human rights protections are in place for all Australians, not just Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, for all Australians, because all Australians are literally a fall down the stairs away from having their rights violated," she said.
In relation to First Nations communities, Kiss said stronger legal protections could help prevent governments overriding cultural heritage protections and better safeguard children's rights.
"So things like child safety and the conversation we're having about 10-year-olds in watch houses, a Human Rights Act would help to prevent those kind of human rights breaches."
Accountability focus
The report calls for governments to formally respond to its recommendations and recommends stronger accountability measures across Closing the Gap and deaths in custody.
Kiss said one key recommendation from the National Agreement on Closing the Gap — an independent monitoring mechanism — remained unfulfilled five years after the agreement was signed.
"We're five years into the National Agreement and that independent mechanism is yet to be established," she said.
The report also recommends an independent federal investigatory mechanism for Aboriginal deaths in custody, replacing current arrangements where state and territory police investigate deaths occurring within their own jurisdictions.
"It removes it from state and territory police investigating their own so that people have trust and faith in the system," Kiss said.
Racism inquiry
The report has been released while a federal parliamentary inquiry into racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is underway.
Kiss said evidence gathered during the consultation process closely aligned with issues being examined by the inquiry.
"One of the key concerns that was raised across all 41 locations that we visited... was the exposure to racism, in particular how much that's increased in response to the Voice referendum, but also being targeted online and having daily constant exposure to online racism," she said.
She said she hoped both processes would lead to action rather than becoming another report left unimplemented.
"We've seen 30 years of social justice reports go on shelves. We've seen major inquiry reports sitting on shelves gathering dust without recommendations implemented," she said.
"The last thing we want from the inquiry is another report that gathers dust. We need action."
