Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—the Albanese government supports the principles underlying the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, known as UNDRIP. As a signatory to UNDRIP, we commit to taking steps to realise those international standards and to do so in the spirit of partnership and mutual respect. The UNDRIP brings together existing human rights and applies them to specific contexts affecting Indigenous peoples. It provides a framework for countries to realise these rights but provides flexibility so the details can be determined at a domestic level in partnership between the state and Indigenous peoples. While we have structures in place to facilitate First Peoples' perspectives, our government remains committed to increasing opportunities to work in partnership with Indigenous Australians to achieve improved outcomes.

On 28 November 2023, the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs released its report on its inquiry into the application of the UNDRIP in Australia. The government is considering the report, and we're determined to get this right. While it considers the report, the Albanese government is giving practical effect to UNDRIP through its programs, policies and approach to engagement and collaboration. This work is ongoing.

As the explanatory memorandum notes, the bill proposes a significant change to the role of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights. The committee's role has been important and longstanding. Changes to its role must be carefully considered. As the explanatory memorandum notes:

… under the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 , new Bills and disallowable legislative instruments must be accompanied by a statement of compatibility with human rights. Currently, it assesses the compatibility of the legislation with the rights and freedoms recognised in the seven international human rights treaties that Australia has ratified.

The explanatory memorandum further notes:

… practical impact of this bill is that the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (PJCHR) may, in the course of the committee's examination of bills, legislative instruments, Acts and other inquiries, consider and report on the rights and freedoms outlined in an eighth international instrument, the UNDRIP.

The government is not in a position to agree to this significant change at this time.