Attempts by Labor to head off a threat to Australia's international human rights status would not prevent "Barilaro-style" appointments, and could lead to "humiliation" on the world stage, the Greens warn.
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The government is pushing to ensure appointments to the Human Rights Commission are made at arm's length from government, after Australia was warned it could lose its "A-status" human rights listing at the United Nations.
The bill, which the Greens are seeking to amend to establish a new LGBTQI commissioner, proposes all roles on the Human Rights Commission are filled via "a merit-based and transparent selection process".
But it will not be referred to a parliamentary committee, after Labor and the Coalition joined forces in the Senate on Thursday.
New Greens senator David Shoebridge described the deal as a "stitch up", which would prevent stakeholders from airing their concerns over the proposal.
Senator Shoebridge accepted the bill would prevent appointments without a public advertisement, but described it as a "small step" towards fixing Australia's beleaguered human rights framework.
"It wouldn't prevent a Barilaro-style political decision being made by the government to appoint whoever they want to," he told The Canberra Times.
"This is pretend integrity. It is the weakest possible response to a really harsh UN criticism of Australia's human rights framework."
Australia was warned this year its international human rights A-status is under threat, partly over the politicisation of the Human Rights Commissioner role under the former Coalition government.
Being downgraded to a "B-status" would strip Australia of its right to participate fully on the UN Human Rights Council, ranking it below Iraq and alongside Libya, Venezuela, Bulgaria and Myanmar.
A damning report by Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions found former attorney-general Michaelia Cash bypassed normal processes to appoint Lorraine Findlay, who had links to the Liberal Party.
Ms Findlay was appointed on a five-year term in 2021 after calling for the race discrimination law Section 18C to be repealed and opposing affirmative consent laws.
One of her predecessors was Tim Wilson, formerly at right-wing think tank the Institute of Public Affairs before serving two terms as a Liberal MP.
Labor has stressed codifying a "merit-based and transparent" process would bring Australia within its obligations under the Paris principles.
But Senator Shoebridge argued the bill did not go to other criticisms levelled by the UN, including that commission appointments needed to reflect the diversity of Australian society.
"If you look at the extent of the critique, it's very arguable that this response doesn't meet it," he said.
"The government should see this as an opportunity to prevent a potential humiliation, as we're literally thrown down the rankings."
Senator Shoebridge described the lack of an LGBTQI commissioner as an "obvious gap" in the legislation.
"We've seen that community come under attack, after attack, after attack in the last few years," he said.
"It's about time they had someone in their corner in the Human Rights Commission, whose sole job is to protect their interests, to represent their interests, and to drag Australia forward.
"We haven't had a rational response from the government explaining why they're refusing to send this to committee."
During the election campaign, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese conceded he was not aware of the potential downgrade and did not know who Ms Findlay was.
"At the risk of creating a headline, I don't know who Ms Finlay is. I will look at that," he said.