News and politics: Albanese announces AI Office and national standards, says Australia must ‘set the terms’

The Prime Minister has admitted that Australia can’t get across every risk but has vowed to try and implement more guard rails to protect Aussies from the anticipated disruptions.

“It is not our goal to try and legislate for every possible eventuality or risk,” he said.

“That only creates the risk of Australia missing out on investment altogether.

“This is about having the flexibility to keep pace with change and get out in front of it, so Australia can draw on and learn from what other countries are doing and deal with issues in real time without the bureaucracy having to contemplate every modification.

“This is about building Australians’ confidence and trust in AI and our nation’s capacity to manage it, ensuring that our national interests and our national security are protected, and providing the certainty for growth, for jobs, and for investment.”

Anthony Albanese says he will present his new AI approach to premiers and chief ministers at the national cabinet meeting next month.

The Prime Minister said he will consult with several industries and State and Territories on the standards before bringing forward the legislation to Parliament in early 2027.

He said it would ensure that Australia can “seize and shape and share” the “generational opportunity that AI represents”

“In March this year, we announced a set of expectations for large AI data centers.

“This will bring them into one regulatory framework, clear, consistent, mandatory.

“I will seek agreement on this approach from premiers and chief ministers at the national cabinet meeting I’m convening next month.

“We will aim to bring the legislation to Parliament and carry it early next year.

“We will consult closely with industry and our trading partners to design a framework for faster decision making, better supporting infrastructure, and genuine community engagement.”

Anthony Albanese has declared Australia’s national story is one of “innovators and inventors” as he opened his significant pitch in Sydney on Wednesday for a world-first approach to tackle AI.

The Prime Minister has announced he will create an Office for AI in his department and a new national standard for how big tech operate AI DownUnder in an attempt to get ahead of the curve on the technology.

The PM has explained his intent to intervene in the rapidly growing area as it has become “already part of our daily lives” amid concerns it will impact Australia’s national security.

“This is our time to decide what AI looks like here in Australia,” he said.

“This is about Australia shaping the future rather than letting the future shape us.

“Australians have always been enthusiastic adopters of new technology, and AI is, of course, already part of our daily lives.

“No government can turn back the clock or press pause on all of this, nor would we want to. That would only mean cutting ourselves off from the opportunities which are there to be seized, leaving ourselves open to the risks created elsewhere.

“The fact that we cannot stop change does not render us powerless.

“Our power, our agency, our choice lies in embracing change and shaping it, not just adopting or accommodating AI, designing it, making it, building the capability right here, and building our sovereignty and our economic resilience as a result.

“We can set the terms. We can determine AI’s social license, but we have to do it now. We cannot revisit this issue after companies have built whatever they want, wherever they want, and try to then reopen negotiations.”

Donald Trump has urged Iran to continue negotiations to tame escalating tensions in the Middle East or risk “not having anything left”.

Speaking to Fox News, the US President said Iran “better make a deal.”

“You’re not going to have anybody left,” he told the network.

Mr Trump said the US was “being very careful with the civilian population.”

“But I said, you better make a deal. You’re not going to have anything left,” he repeated.

Labor is being accused of putting the interest of big tech companies ahead of Australians in its plans to create a new AI office and national framework.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge has warned the government against carving up Australia’s data to benefit “a handful of US tech billionaires”.

“This isn’t really a plan for AI in Australia’s interests, it’s Australia being carved up to suit a handful of US tech billionaires,” Senator Shoebridge said on Wednesday, in reaction to the selected and limited excerpts so far released of Mr Albanese’s speech.

“Our land, our data, our defence systems and our creative work all up for grabs.

“Looks like Labor’s whole AI pitch today treats the problem as data centres taking too long to get approved, but that was never what people were worried about.

“People hate having no say at all while big tech gets the green light faster and faces less scrutiny than ever.”

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Jane Hume has warned Australia risks getting “left behind” if the AI sector is too tightly regulated.

The deputy Liberal leader said, while confirming the Coalition’s plans for its own “AI principles”, that wrapping the industry in “red tape” will hinder opportunities.

“What I would say is that if we over regulate, if we wrap this technology up in red tape, we will be left behind and it will be to the detriment to the prosperity and the progress of future generations,” Ms Hume told Sky News.

“As we’ve clearly seen, we are a trusted partner for these technology companies and for the countries in which they are domiciled. That’s a good thing.

:Let’s harness that opportunity to create the productivity that this country so desperately needs, because productivity has gone backwards under Labor.”

Jane Hume has accused Labor of being divided over the role of unions in the rollout of AI.

The deputy Liberal leader’ comments come after Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth ruled out a union right of veto over the use of AI.

Ms Hume argued Labor was ‘tearing itself up’ over whether unions should have the power to block private sector companies from adopting the technology.

“We know unions have pushed Labor’s agenda every step of the way over the last four years,” she said

“There is hardly anything on the union’s wishlist that hasn’t already been delivered by this government.

“Think about that, a right of veto as to whether a company can adopt a new technology.

“Can you imagine if unions had have had a right of veto as to whether a company could adopt computers?”

Opposition leader Angus Taylor has aired his disapproval of Anthony Albanese’s AI Office, which is set to be formally announced in a speech later today.

Speaking on parts of the speech seen by The Nightly, Mr Taylor accused the Prime Minister of wanting to create an “office inside his own office”.

“He’s announced an office inside his own office. He’s got to have another office and what is that office going to do?” Mr Taylor told reporters in north-west Sydney.

Mr Taylor also slammed Labor for having its “priorities wrong” when addressing the rise in AI and creating “more bureaucracy.”

“The answer to this is not more bureaucracy. The trouble with this prime minister and this government is the answer to every problem is always more bureaucracy,” he said.

“If your only answer to this is to create more jobs in your own office, in your own bureaucracy, it’s not an answer. And this is why the instincts of this Prime Minister and this government are wrong every time. Their priorities are wrong, every time.”

Oppostion Science and Technology spokesman Aaron Violi has slammed the timing of Labor’s AI Office, labelleing the move something that should have happened “three years ago”.

“The reality is, if you look at the history of this government, they’ve failed when it comes to AI. Under Ed (Husic) they were going down an AI act and overregulation,” he said.

“He got knifed. They reversed that with Tim Ayres. It’s a light touch approach, complete chaos. We’ve now got the PM saying, look, I’m going to step in and show leadership.

“You should have shown leadership three years ago because it has impacted Australians for the last 3 to 4 years. And this is just another example of the government not being up to it, not leading, but following the conversation.”

The US Central Command has carried out further strikes on Iranian targets to “degrade” its military capabilities.

“To continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” it wrote on X.

“The strikes are taking place as American forces prepare to resume the naval blockade against Iranian ports and coastal areas.”