The position was created alongside the Act as one of the specialist commissioners of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
[3] Goward resigned in late 2006 in order to run for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and was replaced in mid-2007 by lawyer Elizabeth Broderick, a former partner with Blake Dawson.
[5] Dr Anna Cody took over the role in September 2023 [6] and brought a focus on the lives and experinces of First Nations women and girls and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgounds.
[7] In January 2020, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins handed to the Morrison government her Respect@Work Report,[8] described by the ABC as “a landmark national inquiry into sexual harassment in workplaces by the Australian Human Rights Commission”[citation needed].
On 8 April 2021, the Morrison government released its response to the report, which it has dubbed A Roadmap for Respect: Preventing and Addressing Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces, accepting (either wholly or in principle) or “noted” all 55 recommendations.