4. Discrimination law reform 4.4 A roadmap to implement reforms to federal discrimination law Some of the 38 proposals from the Commission’s first Position Paper, Free & Equal: a reform agenda for federal discrimination laws (2021) were implemented in whole or in part in the legislative responses to the Respect@Work report in 2022. A number of the reform proposals also intersect with recommendations of the Disability Royal Commission (in September 2023). • outstanding reforms that should be undertaken immediately (referred to as stage 1 reforms) as priority actions that fix longstanding problems in the operation of federal discrimination law • a series of more ambitious and substantive reforms (referred to as stage 2 reforms) to be undertaken over a longer-term timeframe • reforms that have now been implemented in whole. To assist with implementation, the Commission developed the roadmap for reform in Table 6 below, which identifies: Table 6: A staged approach to federal discrimination law reform Reform proposal Proposed reform (as identified in the Commission’s Position Paper) Relevant recommendation of Disability Royal Commission Stage 1: Outstanding reforms that should be undertaken immediately Amending secrecy provisions 5 NB: AGD is currently conducting a Review of Secrecy Provisions20 due to report to the Australian Government in 2023. Costs 16 NB: AGD conducted a Review into an appropriate cost model for Commonwealth anti-discrimination laws21 in response to recommendation 25 of the Respect@Work report. Protection of volunteers and interns 24 NB: Volunteers and interns were provided with protection against sexual harassment through changes to the Sex Discrimination Act in September 2021: Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendment Act 2021 (Cth) (First Respect@Work Act). This was done through applying the protections against sexual harassment to ‘workers’ and applying the prohibitions to ‘persons conducting a business or undertaking’ (PCBUs). These changes should also apply to sex discrimination and be rolled out to each of the other Discrimination Acts. Protections for family and carer responsibilities extended to: 25 • indirect as well as direct discrimination • all areas of public life, not just in the area of work. Introduction of religious discrimination protections 26 Change to meaning of reasonable adjustment under Disability Discrimination Act 31 4.25 and 4.26; also 4.32 re unjustifiable hardship Table continued over  FREE & EQUAL: Revitalising Australia’s Commitment to Human Rights 91