4. Discrimination law reform – Amend the secrecy provision in s 49 of the Australian Human Rights Commission Act to confirm that de-identified complaints information can be used for educative purposes, and to clarify its operation – Commonwealth secrecy provisions are currently being reviewed by the Attorney‑General’s Department (Reform 5). – Repeal s 46PF(7)(c) of the Australian Human Rights Commission Act so that the Commission is not required to notify people who are not parties to a complaint, merely because there has been an adverse allegation made against them (Reform 36). The balance of the Commission’s reform agenda for discrimination laws is likely to require more substantive and holistic changes to legislation, potentially by way of consolidation of discrimination laws. The Commission considers that these are reforms that could be implemented in the medium term, over the next 2 to 3 years. These are identified as stage 2 reforms. Key elements of this future reform program include: • Extend the positive duty across all protected attributes in federal discrimination laws, beyond those provisions in the Sex Discrimination Act (Reforms 1–4). • Simplify the test for direct discrimination by removing the ‘comparator test’ (Reform 30). • Simplify the test for indirect discrimination (Reform 32). • Amend the evidentiary burden for matters particularly within the knowledge of respondents (Reform 17). • Review permanent exemptions to discrimination in existing laws (Reform 29). • Clarify the operation of ‘intersectional’ discrimination on grounds currently covered by different laws (Reform 35). • Extend or introduce co-regulatory mechanisms to promote compliance with discrimination laws (Reform 16). • Reintroduce an intermediate adjudicative process between the Commission and the courts (Reforms 22–23). • Make ‘irrelevant criminal record’ an enforceable ground of discrimination. (Reform 27) FREE & EQUAL: Revitalising Australia’s Commitment to Human Rights 95