Indigenous births are significantly under-reported in Queensland, making it harder to enrol in school or get a driver's licence, with the ombudsman labelling action to address the issue as "improperly discriminatory".

Ombudsman Phil Clarke's report, tabled in State Parliament, pointed to Queensland Health figures from 2014 that showed approximately 15-18 per cent of births to Indigenous mothers were not registered, compared to 1.8 per cent of births to non-Indigenous mothers.

Mr Clarke said efforts to address the problem by the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) were "clearly inadequate", including a shift to online registration, which could be difficult for people in remote communities.

"BDM has taken inefficient action aimed at increasing the rate of Indigenous birth registration to remedy [the] disparity," he said.

"This is administrative action that is unreasonable and improperly discriminatory for the purposes of the Ombudsman Act."

He said some other aspects to blame could be including fees for birth certificates, penalties for late registrations, and culturally inappropriate interaction with Indigenous clients by the BDM.

Mr Clarke recommended that the Department of Justice and Attorney-General review its fees and penalties, and consider waiving the fee for birth certificates.

He also called on the department to liaise with Indigenous groups to remove barriers to birth registration.

Speaker Curtis Pitt tabled the report for the Government's consideration and said it was an issue that affected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Queensland.

"Birth registration establishes a person's legal identity," Mr Pitt said.

"It's the first step to getting a birth certificate, a key identity document that allows a person to fully participate in our society.

"Enrolling in school, joining a rugby league or a netball club or getting a driver's licence becomes that much more complicated, even limiting people's job opportunities."