The gross over-representation of Aboriginal people in prison is a "national disgrace" and should be tackled by abolishing controversial mandatory sentences for a range of minor offences, the nation's peak body for barristers has urged.

In a plan unveiled on Friday, the Australian Bar Association called on state and territory governments to scrap or amend mandatory sentencing laws for crimes including minor assaults, driving offences and petty theft.

The laws, which differ significantly between jurisdictions, are partly to blame for the disproportionately high rate of incarceration of Indigenous Australians, who account for approximately 24 per cent of the prison population but just 3 per cent of the general population.

"The re-imprisonment rate for Aboriginal children is higher than the retention rate of school. It's just a national disgrace and we've got to do something about it," the association's president, Patrick O'Sullivan, QC, said.

"On any one night in particular, 53 per cent of youth in detention are Indigenous."

The association has pointed to a range of "anomalous or unjust cases" involving mandatory sentencing, including a 15-year-old Aboriginal boy sentenced under Northern Territory mandatory sentencing laws in 2000 to 20 days in detention for stealing school supplies worth less than $100. He committed suicide in custody.

It also took aim at the imprisonment of offenders in Western Australia for fine default, noting the case of Aboriginal woman Ms Dhu, who died two days after being imprisoned for four days in 2014 for unpaid fines totalling $3622.

NSW did not escape criticism. While the association was not targeting the state's controversial "one punch" laws for fatal alcohol- or drug-fuelled assaults, it did oppose mandatory disqualifications in NSW for some driving offences which entrench offending and may ultimately lead to jail time.

Mr O'Sullivan said scrapping mandatory sentencing for some offences was not a "panacea" but would address part of a complex problem.

The proposal was "cost-neutral" and budget savings from reducing prisoner numbers could be reinvested in programs to rehabilitate offenders and reduce recidivism.

He met federal Attorney-General George Brandis on Monday to urge the federal government to take the lead in driving the change.

Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion said he was " very concerned about the high rate of Indigenous incarceration" and the Commonwealth was "working with the states and territories to reduce Indigenous people's contact with the criminal justice system".

He supported a push to reduce incarceration for fine default but said mandatory sentencing was "a matter primarily for states and territories".

The government was focused on "tackling the acknowledged drivers of crime" including unemployment and poor educational outcomes.

A spokeswoman for the NSW government said "the disproportionate number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in contact with the criminal justice system in NSW presents a continuing challenge".

Programs were already in place to reduce risks of reoffending, including Corrective Service Industries which provided "work opportunities to inmates at 106 commercial business units and 54 service industries", the spokeswoman said.

Victoria does not have mandatory sentencing for minor crimes but does set minimum prison terms for some serious criminal offending, such as one punch killings and assaults against emergency workers on duty.

"In terms of mandatory sentences of imprisonment for minor offences that's a path we haven't gone down, and in our view quite properly," said Tim Freeman, co-chair of the criminal law section at the Law Institute of Victoria.

The former state government introduced a baseline sentencing scheme, which sets the median jail terms for certain serious offences, such as incest or culpable driving. But the scheme has been controversial, with the Court of Appeal ruling in November that baseline sentencing provisions were "incapable of being given any practical operation".

They are currently under review by the Sentencing Advisory Council, which is due to report its recommendations to the government next week.

West Australian Attorney-General Michael Mischin said imprisonment was "a penalty of last resort". But he also said the state had mandatory minimum prison terms "to address specific community safety issues, such as assault against police and other public officers that result in bodily harm".

He said the government "acknowledges that, regrettably, [Aboriginal people] are over-represented in the prison population, and it continues to address the issue with a variety of strategies" aimed at reducing offending.

Mr Mischin said he was "always open to constructive suggestions" about how to reduce offending but did not comment on whether the WA government would consider scrapping mandatory sentences for some offences.

The Northern Territory Attorney-General was contacted for comment.

- With Beau Donelly