The Human Rights Commission wants a revision of a new bill that would require every person arrested for a crime punishable by prison to give DNA.
The Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Bill is before a parliamentary select committee.
On Thursday, Human Rights Chief Commissioner Rosslyn Noonan told MPs she is not opposed to DNA matching to solve crimes but is worried parts of the bill may compromise civil liberties.
Ms Noonan urged that children between 14 and 16 be spared from the testing.
She also urged that only those under "good cause" of suspicion be required to provide DNA samples to the police.
