The ACT government tabled legislation in the Assembly yesterday that will include the right to education in the Human Rights Act, the first such move by a government in Australia.

Attorney-General Simon Corbell said inclusion of the right did not mean the government had to provide free education to every person in the ACT, but it would have to provide education options for all people living in the territory in a way that did not discriminate.

While Mr Corbell said the bill was ''ground breaking'', the opposition has indicated it is unlikely to support it because it offers ''nothing'' in the way of tangible improvements for ACT schools and other education providers.

Liberal Leader Zed Seselja said Canberrans already accepted there was a right to an education in the territory and that inclusion of education in the Human Rights Act was therefore ''tokenistic''.

''It's clear that kids do get an education in Canberra and putting it in the Human Rights Act will change nothing,'' he said.

''The government hasn't made a very strong case for why you'd include it rather than making actual improvements to education.''

Mr Seselja said the government should instead be doing more to empower principals and teachers to do their jobs and deal with day-to- day issues like bullying and truancy.

He cited the example of a Canberra principal who was prevented from working with local shops to prevent students from shopping during school hours as an incident where the government had ''undermined'' ACT principals.

But Australian Education Union acting ACT secretary Glenn Fowler said the union would support the gesture at face value.

''What it does is reaffirm the government's commitment to universal, free, secular, compulsory education for every school age child,'' he said.

''The notion of free education has really come under attack from some right wing pundits recently in the context of the Gonski review.

''If this move by the government drives that down then we're supportive of it.''

Meanwhile, the ACT Greens asked why the government did not also move to enshrine additional rights in the act, including the right to health, food, water and social security, the right to adequate housing, the right to work, and the right to participate in cultural life.

Those rights, along with education, were recommended in a 2010 ANU report for inclusion in the Human Rights Act.

''The Attorney-General noted today in the Assembly that the bulk of public submissions to the report support human rights and want the act updated,'' Greens justice spokesman Shane Rattenbury said.

''So we are surprised the ACT government has not followed that recommendation and only proposes to include one of the five.''

Mr Corbell said earlier this week the government was willing to consider legislating for other rights, but was taking the process step by step.