The level of public and stakeholder engagement with Free and Equal will ensure that the recommendations developed are pragmatic, evidence-based and grounded in a level of consensus built across the relevant sectors. The Commission anticipates strong community and stakeholder support for the final recommendations as a result of this process – a critical process outcome for the initiative. The Commission is currently finalising the Discrimination Law Reform Position Paper, which will be released in the coming months. It builds on the Commission’s other work, including the report, Respect@Work: National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces. The Position Paper outlines the need to shift the focus of the federal discrimination law system to a more preventative approach. The recommendations are also designed to strengthen and simplify the current system, and to provide greater certainty to its users, inclusive of business, government, and individuals. Parallel to the discrimination work, in this reporting period the Commission has focused on developing a model for a federal Human Rights Act and other mechanisms for positively embedding human rights in policy development, which will be the subject of the second Free and Equal Position Paper. Based on submissions and the wealth of experience generated through many years of research and advocacy on this issue, the Commission developed options for reform and identified areas of complexity in early 2021. Over May and June 2021, the Commission embarked on a period of targeted engagement on early proposals, seeking technical and detailed feedback from key stakeholders. Stakeholders are concerned about the weak and piecemeal human rights protections afforded to Australians. They have welcomed the Commission’s efforts to develop a model for a Human Rights Act as a necessary means of ensuring comprehensive rights coverage. These sentiments are reflected in the below feedback: ‘The timing of the AHRC’s Inquiry is particularly important having regard to several current matters of national debate and significance, including questions of freedom of expression, freedom of religion and press freedoms. Rather than a piecemeal debate which often raises individual freedoms in isolation, [we] welcome the AHRC’s comprehensive approach to reviewing Australia’s legal and policy framework for respecting, protecting, and fulfilling human rights generally. [We] consider that the Inquiry is essential to understanding the role of the rule of law and human rights in underpinning a healthy Australian democracy’. Submission No. 166 ‘I commend the Commission; this is a good initiative – dealing with spot fires related to human rights is damaging to the whole area – a focus on developing a Human Rights Act, particularly one that reflects United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, is welcome.’ Consultation with Indigenous legal stakeholders, June 2021. 28 Australian Human Rights Commission Annual Report 2020–2021