United Nations torture prevention inspectors have suspended plans to look at detention facilities in Australia after NSW and Queensland blocked access.

The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture said it was obstructed from carrying out its protective mandate, violating Australia’s obligations under UN protocols.

The 12-day tour was due to continue until Thursday, but the UN party has left the country early.

“It is deeply regrettable that the limited understanding of the [subcommittee’s] mandate and the lack of co-operation stemming from internal disagreements, especially with respect to the states of Queensland and NSW, has compelled us to take this drastic measure,” UN delegation head Aisha Shujune Muhammad said in a statement.

NSW prevented access to prisons while Queensland stopped delegates inspecting mental health wards.

Academics and advocacy groups condemned the states for blocking access.

“States’ 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 joint statement circulated by Australian Lawyers for Human Rights and signed by dozens of other groups and individuals.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet defended NSW preventing the UN delegates’ entry to prisons last week.

“Our prison system is there ultimately to do one thing and that is keep the people of NSW safe,” he said.

Corrections Minister Geoff Lee, who will retire at the March election, will face a budget estimates hearing on Monday.

Mr Lee could face questions about why the subcommittee was denied access to the state’s jails.

He might also be asked about Clarence Correctional Centre, Australia’s largest prison on the Northern Rivers near Grafton. Officers there have gone on strike twice in the past month to protest pay and staff levels.

Senior NSW government minister David Elliott, a former corrections minister who will also retire in March, said he made sure past premiers did not approve the UN inspections.

“I’m not going to have UN inspectors from Iran and China and Cuba come into NSW jails and tell us that we’re doing things wrong,” he told Sydney radio 2GB on Monday.

Mr Elliott said the federal government encouraged the inspections, but was protected from having to open immigration detention centres or defence force correctional facilities, unlike state prisons.

-AAP