4. Discrimination law reform 4. Discrimination law reform 4.1 Overview This chapter recalls the 4 integrated sets of reforms to federal discrimination laws set out in the Commission’s first Position Paper, to improve the effectiveness of federal discrimination laws. This is built on 4 pillars: • Building a preventative culture • Modernising the regulatory framework • Enhancing access to justice • Improving the practical operation of the laws. The Commission recommends a staged approach to federal discrimination law in a new Human Rights Framework that can: • address these immediate priorities that are already underway and address urgent technical fixes to federal discrimination laws that would improve their operation (to be completed in year 1 of the new framework) Recommendation 4 Reform federal discrimination laws The Commission recommends that the Australian Government modernise federal discrimination laws to increase their effectiveness and shift their focus from a reactive model that responds to discriminatory treatment to a proactive model that seeks to prevent discriminatory treatment in the first place. Consideration should be given to undertaking these reforms in 2 stages: Stage 1: addressing immediate priorities and fixing longstanding problems in the operation of federal discrimination laws (year 1). • commit to undertaking a broader reform of federal discrimination laws to shift the model and introduce new co-regulatory approaches (to be completed in years 2 and 3 of the new framework). Stage 2: introducing a new co‑regulatory model that broadens and expands on the positive duty in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (years 2–3). The specific reform actions and staging is set out in Table 6 in this chapter. FREE & EQUAL: Revitalising Australia’s Commitment to Human Rights 73