As we move out of crisis mode with the pandemic, it is timely for us to build on this dialogue and extend it to other areas of human rights concern in Australia. As a nation, we should be having the same discussions about the myriad of issues that exist in our community. Why do we not make better use of alternatives to the jailing of children as young as 10 years of age (especially when we know that we are talking about a small group of children, and the vast majority of crimes committed are minor)? Why do we insist on detaining people found to be refugees in closed detention settings for lengthy periods of time, rather than placing them in community settings, especially when we know that the vast majority pose limited security threats to the community and that they suffer severe mental health impacts as a result of detention? We know that when governments have failed to act to protect Australians, we often look to Royal Commissions to identify how people should be treated into the future. Royal Commissions into the treatment of people in aged care, institutional abuse of children, children in detention and care and protection in the NT have all had better protection of human rights at the centre of their concerns and proposals for reform. It is time that we put into practice better laws and policies to protect people’s human rights rather than conducting Royal Commissions to examine human rights breaches after the fact. It is my hope that one of the abiding legacies of the COVID-19 pandemic will be to open up the conversation about how best we can protect human rights and, by doing so, to best respect the rights of Australians wherever they are, and every day. The past year has also been a landmark year in addressing sexual harassment. The Commission’s report of the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces, Respect@Work, was tabled in March 2020. Subsequent developments in the community, and most notably in the federal Parliament, have put much focus on the report and its recommendations. Amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) currently sit before the federal Parliament to implement some of the recommendations of the report. These amendments are a positive start, and the Commission looks forward to engaging with government and Parliament about the need to move further to fully implement the report’s recommendations. Annual Report 2020–2021 Australian Human Rights Commission 17