Australia is taking steps to update its International Arbitration Act, a move that its Attorney-General hopes will improve domestic arbitration but also make Australia "an attractive venue for parties from around the world to resolve their disputes."

Australia has long been a signatory to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and has incorporated the Convention into Australian law. The country also has adopted the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, although in its 1985 version. The Bill introduced into Federal Parliament in November, however, would adopt the 2006 revision to the UNCITRAL Model Law and takes additional steps intended to promote arbitration as an efficient and final alternative to litigation and improve the parties ability to keep confidential the arbitral process and documents disclosed within it.