4.2 Introduction Australia’s federal discrimination laws are outdated and difficult to use. Some of these laws have remained substantially untouched since they were introduced over 30 and 40 years ago. They do not respond to the challenges of modern life and are often unsuccessful as a means of remedying discrimination, let alone preventing it. the Australian Human Rights Framework in 2011–12.4 This process stalled in 2012, and was abandoned following a change of government in September 2013. Australia was a world leader on discrimination protections when the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) was introduced. The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (Sex Discrimination Act) and Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (Disability Discrimination Act) were also considered international best practice at the time they were introduced.1 What was best practice in the second half of the 20th Century is not so in the 21st Century. Australia has fallen behind other comparable jurisdictions within Australia and internationally in providing protection against discrimination and the transformation that has occurred in other jurisdictions in advancing equality. Comprehensive reform proposals to improve federal discrimination laws have sat largely unaddressed for nearly 20 years, for example, with the recommendations of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee’s reforms of the Sex Discrimination Act in 20082 and earlier reform recommendations for the Disability Discrimination Act.3 The most recent attempt to reform these laws was the process that was commenced to consolidate all discrimination laws into one cohesive framework, conducted under 74 This chapter sets out the Commission’s proposals and rationale for the reform of federal discrimination laws. The Commission first published this reform agenda in its Position Paper, Free & Equal: A reform agenda for federal discrimination law released in December 2021. Since that time, the Commission’s Respect@ Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report into the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace has resulted in reforms primarily to the Sex Discrimination Act, with some of the Free & Equal proposals also implemented. There remains under consideration in 2023 proposed legislation to protect against religious discrimination and an inquiry by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) into the religious exemptions in the Sex Discrimination Act. The ALRC is required to report by 31 December 2023. The recent report by the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (Disability Royal Commission), released in September 2023, provides the latest set of recommendations calling for substantial reform to the Disability Discrimination Act. As set out in Text Box 1, the Disability Royal Commission identifies a suite of reforms that are remarkably similar to those proposed by the Commission in the Position Paper, Free & Equal: A reform agenda for federal discrimination law.5 FREE & EQUAL: Revitalising Australia’s Commitment to Human Rights