This opinion piece by Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay appeared in The Mandarin on 26 June 2025
Imagine being locked in a cell alone for 23 hours a day. No fresh air, no meaningful human contact, no sense of time. You're a teenager, or maybe someone struggling with mental illness. Perhaps you haven't even been convicted of a crime and are just waiting for your case to be heard.
Now imagine no one is watching. Or, if they are, they don't necessarily have the power to directly change anything.
This isn't a dystopian novel - it's the quiet, uncomfortable reality in parts of Australia's detention system today.
Today marks the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture - a reminder of the global commitment made in 1987 when the Convention Against Torture (CAT) came into force.
It has been more than 35 years since Australia ratified CAT, but the truth is we are not doing enough to uphold our promises. Throughout Australia, abusive practices in detention persist, including solitary confinement, the use of spit hoods, and invasive strip searches. Children are locked up in degrading conditions. Indigenous deaths in custody continue to occur at alarming rates.
Our failure to fully implement the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) is a glaring gap in our human rights protection framework. Fixing this needs to be a priority for the Albanese Government.
What did Australia promise?
At its core, the CAT prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and recognises that these are grave violations of human rights. OPCAT builds on this by requiring countries to establish independent inspection systems for all places of detention. National Preventative Mechanisms (NPM), as they are known, shine a light on detention conditions, and identify systemic issues early to prevent ill-treatment.
People in detention are some of the most vulnerable in our society, often living in closed environments where abuse and mistreatment can go unseen and unchallenged. An effective NPM helps ensure transparency, accountability, and the protection of basic human rights.
Is this really needed in Australia?
The need for effective oversight mechanisms in Australia is clear. Imprisonment rates across Australia are increasing, nearly 1000 people are held in immigration detention, and many others forcibly detained in hospitals, aged care, mental health and disability facilities.
42 people, with 13 of First Nations background, have already died in custody in Australia this year alone. Children are subjected to degrading and deeply harmful practices in detention, including being forcibly restrained and kept in isolation for up to 23 hours a day.
People with disabilities have experienced abuse and neglect in detention settings, and there are reports of the continued use of chemical restraints on older people in nursing homes continues. A 2024 Human Rights Commission report found a concerning lack of adequate and equitable support for women in detention, expressing serious concerns over their safety and welfare.
Australia's progress on OPCAT
More than seven years after ratifying OPCAT, Australia has still not met its basic obligations. New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria still lack designated NPM bodies, other NPM bodies lack the necessary resources, and there is no national legislative framework.
Australia has already requested multiple extensions from the United Nations to delay the full implementation of OPCAT. Despite this, we still didn't meet out extended January 2024 deadline. The UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture terminated its 2022 visit to Australia after being denied access to some places of detention. That a UN torture prevention body was turned away in Australia is both shameful and alarming.
This failure sends a troubling message: that Australia's commitment to human rights is negotiable when inconvenient. It weakens our voice on the world stage and fails the people here at home who need protection: young people, asylum seekers, people with mental illness, and First Nations people overrepresented in the criminal justice system.
What needs to happen?
The solution is within reach. In 2022, the Commission published a Roadmap to OPCAT Compliance that clearly sets out the steps Australia needs to take.
What is needed is the political will. The re-elected Albanese Government must work with states and territories to urgently establish a strong, well-resourced and independent NPM network with access to all places of detention. We also need a national law to give full effect to OPCAT.
Australia has long prided itself on being a human rights leader. But in the fight against torture and ill-treatment, we are falling behind. Our governments must commit to turning aspiration into action.
Lorraine Finlay is Australia's Human Rights Commissioner
