Aboriginal leaders mark UNDRIP anniversary with call for urgent action

In the joint statement, the leaders asked Australia’s government to: 

• take steps to deliver on its commitments to First Peoples 
• commit to urgent and rights-based amendments 
• respond to the report of the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs inquiry into the UNDRIP by 22 November 2025, two years since the committee’s release of its final report 
• fully endorse the report’s six recommendations seeking to promote partnership, dialogue, and recognition of the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 

These recommendations included collaborating with First Peoples communities to create a national action plan to implement the UNDRIP in the country, codifying the UNDRIP in Australian legislation, and putting in place an independent truth-telling and treaty process. 

In the joint statement, the leaders noted that the Australian government was on track with only four targets and lamented the insufficient progress. 

“Until governments are held accountable for upholding our rights, the gaps will not close,” the joint statement said. “The cost of delay is devastating: loss of lives, families, culture, languages and opportunities.” 

Justice system suggestions

“This is about justice,” the joint statement said. “It is about lives. It is about holding governments accountable to the promises they have made.” 

The leaders’ joint statement asked Australia’s government to tackle deficiencies in the criminal justice and child justice systems by: 

• embedding the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into Australian law, including by through legislated national standards for children in justice and corrections systems and a raised age of criminal responsibility 
• ensuring consistent and independent monitoring and reporting on imposing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1991) 
• considering the possibilities for establishing an independent statutory authority to investigate Indigenous deaths and critical custodial incidents 

“It is unacceptable that issues that were identified in the Royal Commission in 1991 remain unaddressed,” the joint statement said. “Governments must act to prevent unnecessary contact with the criminal justice system - and above all, to stop preventable deaths in custody.”