4. Discrimination law reform All organisations with responsibilities under discrimination laws would be required to comply with the duty, including employers and businesses, government entities, and providers of accommodation, education, or goods and services. This would set out a clear expectation that all these responsible organisations will always act in a non-discriminatory manner and pre-emptively consider and address risks of discrimination. The Commission also recommends that the positive duty be enforceable through several enforcement mechanisms as set out in Text Box 2. Text Box 2: The positive duty to prevent sexual harassment – the first step in building a preventative culture Amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act in 2022, introduced a positive duty to eliminate, as far as possible, the following unlawful behaviour from occurring: • discrimination on the ground of sex in a work context • sexual harassment in connection with work • sex-based harassment in connection with work • conduct creating a workplace environment that is hostile on the ground of sex • related acts of victimisation. This legal obligation applies to organisations and businesses nationally, requiring them to take proactive and meaningful action to prevent relevant unlawful conduct from occurring in the workplace or in connection to work. Taking preventative action will help to create safe, respectful and inclusive workplaces. This important change requires organisations and businesses to shift their focus to actively preventing workplace sexual harassment, sex discrimination and other relevant unlawful conduct, rather than responding only after it occurs. The Commission has new powers to investigate and enforce compliance with the positive duty. These powers will commence on 12 of December 2023. These reforms were introduced in response to the findings and recommendations of the Respect@Work National Inquiry by the Commission. It is an important first step towards re-orienting the way federal discrimination law as a whole operates, with its focus on proactively preventing discrimination from occurring. Accordingly, the Commission supports the application of a positive duty across all areas of discrimination. As set out further below, the Commission also considers that such a change should be accompanied by a broader range of co-regulatory powers and functions. This would enable the Commission to build confidence in measures to prevent discrimination from occurring in the first place, while also ensuring that organisations that permit serious or persistent acts of discrimination are held to account. FREE & EQUAL: Revitalising Australia’s Commitment to Human Rights 83