It is notable that while federal discrimination law has been left mostly untouched outside the recent Sex Discrimination Act reforms relating to sexual harassment, the Australian Government has engaged in an ambitious process of standardising, where appropriate, the regulatory powers across a vast array of other areas of federal law. This 10-year process has followed the passage of the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014 (Cth) (Regulatory Powers Act), which provides for a standard suite of monitoring and investigation powers, as well as enforcement provisions through the use of civil penalties, infringement notices, enforceable undertakings and injunctions. (a) The case for reform That discrimination laws were not reviewed in light of the Regulatory Powers Act provisions suggests a lack of engagement from governments of the past decade to this area of law. For too long, the suite of federal discrimination laws have been left untouched and without consideration as to how they would best serve the community. They are now riddled with complexities and inconsistencies, with uneven levels of protection depending upon which characteristic discrimination is based on, and they are difficult to access. Federal discrimination law is outdated and not effective as a remedial process. The reform of federal discrimination laws is now long overdue. The failure to reform these laws continues to create inefficiencies for business, impedes access to justice, and means that there are ineffective protections against discrimination at the national level. Discrimination laws are an integral component of a National Human Rights Framework. They send a message to the broader community that we should all be able to live without being discriminated against, harassed or vilified in all areas of public life. The ‘modern’ regulatory landscape has also by‑passed discrimination law. This new landscape shifts the expectation about the role of the law from being solely focused on a remedial framework where harm is caused, to being an enabling framework to prevent discriminatory treatment in the first place. In this chapter the Commission proposes a range of reforms required so that federal discrimination laws can effectively support an enabling environment. The Commission’s reform agenda for federal discrimination law will substantially improve the effectiveness of these laws – encouraging and supporting preventative action across the community, while ensuring that remedies are more accessible where discrimination is experienced. Figure 8 sets out a series of concerns about the operation of federal discrimination laws identified during the Free & Equal consultations. FREE & EQUAL: Revitalising Australia’s Commitment to Human Rights 76 9