Queensland allowed United Nations prison inspectors to visit a detention centre and tried to help them gather information about restricted mental health patients, the state government says.
A UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (UNSPT) delegation suspended a 12-day tour of Australian detention facilities on Monday, saying Queensland and NSW hadn't cooperated.
The Queensland government says it did cooperate, with the delegation given "unrestricted access" to a Brisbane correctional centre, where they had the opportunity to meet prisoners and staff, on Saturday.
Queensland Corrective Services Commissoner Paul Stewart also issued a letter authorising all facilities to give "unrestricted access" to the UN team.
"QCS is committed to the humane containment, supervision and rehabilitation of prisoners and offenders and will continue to co-operate with the delegation, including providing information requested as part of their visit," a QCS spokesperson told AAP on Tuesday.
Queensland Health said it was legally unable to let UN inspectors visit some patients with severe mental illness or cognitive impairments who are being detained.
However, the department said it had tried to help UN inspectors gather the information they needed for their report.
"Queensland Health advised the subcommittee of the ways in which the visit could be supported in line with legislative and privacy obligations," Queensland Health told AAP in a statement.
"We offered to provide support to the subcommittee to conduct interviews with patients (where the patient consented), to interview staff, and to access documents."
On Monday, federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said he was disappointed in NSW for refusing access, and regretted the UN's avoidable exit, but it would not change Australia's commitment to the anti-torture treaty.
"It is vital that places of detention in Australia maintain the rights of those who are held within their walls," Mr Dreyfus said.
NSW Corrections Minister Geoff Lee said on Monday the state's detention facilities "meet and many times often exceed those of other countries".
However, Corrective Services NSW commissioner Kevin Corcoran said the Inspector of Custodial Services had already delivered a report listing five facilities housing hundreds of inmates as inadequate.
"We've got our own standards ... they don't meet those standards," he told a budget estimates hearing on Monday.
Assistant commissioner Leon Taylor said some infrastructure dated back to the Victorian era and did not support "contemporary correctional practice".
Two facilities from the era had been closed and replaced with more modern facilities in the past 18 months, and a new infrastructure strategy was being developed, he said.
Academics and advocacy groups condemned NSW and Queensland for blocking access.
"Parties have an obligation to both receive the (subcommittee) in their territory and allow it to exercise its mandate in full, including by allowing unfettered access to places of detention," said a statement from Australian Lawyers for Human Rights and other groups on Monday.
