Australian Government response: Senate Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) report

The Australian Government thanks the Senate Select Committee for its inquiry into adopting artificial intelligence (AI). The government thanks all individuals and organisations who contributed submissions or appeared at hearings.

AI is a powerful general-purpose technology. Similarly to other general-purpose technologies, like electricity and the internet, it can reshape productivity, business models and public services. The Australian Government is focused on ensuring that Australia’s AI transition creates a fairer, stronger Australia where every person benefits. This means using AI to help close service gaps in health, disability and aged care, improve education and employment outcomes, and create secure, well-paid jobs in future industries.

The Australian Government is shaping the conditions under which AI is deployed and ensuring that adoption leads to shared prosperity. Realising the benefits these technologies bring requires deliberate policy choices and ongoing engagement with industry, workers, unions and society.

On 2 December 2025, the Australian Government released its National AI Plan (the plan). The plan sets out the government’s ambition for AI and how it will position Australia as a leader in responsible, inclusive and innovative AI development and adoption. The plan has Australians at its centre, with the aim that everyone in Australia benefits from the AI opportunity, across all regions, industries and communities. It provides a coordinated, whole-of-system approach across government and industry to achieve our economic and social policy objectives.

The plan is anchored in 3 goals, with each supported by 3 pillars of action:

• Capture the opportunity by building smart infrastructure, backing domestic AI capability and attracting global investment.
• Spread the benefits through scaling AI adoption, supporting and training Australian workers, and improved public services.
• Keep Australians safe with legislative and regulatory frameworks that mitigate AI harms, widespread responsible practices and international engagement that promotes Australia’s values.

Capture the opportunity

The government is fostering investment in world-class digital and physical infrastructure, supporting local capability, and attracting global partnerships. By expanding high-speed connectivity, attracting investment in advanced data centres, and backing our researchers and businesses, we aim to lead in AI innovation and application.

• Build smart infrastructure: Australian business and consumers need access to the digital infrastructure, including data centres and connectivity infrastructure, that underpins a secure, resilient, and interconnected digital economy.
• Back Australian Capability: Building local AI capability is critical to capturing the opportunities of AI. It ensures that Australians benefit from AI as developers, deployers, adapters, and users – not just consumers. A strong local AI industry will drive good jobs, improve productivity and lead to higher standards of living for all Australians.
• Attract investment: The Australian Government is working to cement Australia as a leading destination for AI investment and secure Australia’s place as a trusted partner in the global AI landscape.

Spread the benefits

The government’s goal is to ensure that all Australians, regardless of background or location, can share in the advantages of AI. We are supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs), regional communities, and groups at risk of digital exclusion to adopt AI. Building digital and AI skills, supporting workforce transitions, and improving public services are central to this effort.

• Scale AI adoption: The Australian Government recognises that supporting SMEs to adopt AI will be essential to ensure they remain competitive, efficient and well‑positioned to seize emerging market opportunities in an increasingly digital landscape.
• Support and train Australians: The Australian Government is committed to supporting fair, safe and cooperative workplaces with ongoing worker training, consultation, upskilling and help for transitions to ensure workers have a meaningful say and can share in the benefits of an AI-enabled workforce.
• Improve public services: The Australian Government will use AI to improve delivery of the services that matter most to Australians and is continuing to build AI capacity, confidence and coordination across the Australian Public Service.

Keep Australians safe

The government is focused on giving Australians the confidence to adopt AI responsibly while safeguarding people’s rights and protecting them from harm. This includes through ongoing review and adaptation of laws, establishing the Australian AI Safety Institute, and engaging internationally.

• Preventing and mitigating harms: The Australian Government’s regulatory approach to AI will continue to build on Australia’s robust existing legal and regulatory frameworks, ensuring that established laws remain the foundation for addressing and mitigating AI-related risks.
• Promote responsible practices: The Australian Government is promoting responsible practices and encouraging the development and use of systems that are transparent, fair, and accountable, with consistent governance and compliance with relevant laws.
• Partner on global norms: The Australian Government’s international advocacy and collaboration on AI will continue to be driven by our goal of embedding our values of accountability, transparency, and inclusion in international AI norms and standards whilst supporting interoperability for Australian industry.

AI cuts across all sectors and government portfolios. Achieving Australia’s goals in AI requires coordination across government, and with industry, unions and civil society to promote clarity, certainty and coherence.

The Department of Industry, Science and Resources has coordinated this response in consultation with the following agencies:

• Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
• Department of Defence
• Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• Department of the Treasury
• Department of Finance
• Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs)
• Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
• Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
• Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts
• Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR)
• Department of Education
• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
• Attorney-General’s Department (AGD)
• National Indigenous Australians Agency
• Australian Electoral Commission (AEC)
• Austrade
• Australian Federal Police
• Australian Signals Directorate
• Digital Transformation Agency
• eSafety Commissioner
• Safe Work Australia (SWA)

The Coalition provided commentary on the 13 recommendations of the Final Report, and on Recommendation 5 of the Interim Report. The Coalition did not provide any alternate recommendations for government response.

Supporting sustainable AI infrastructure that delivers for Australia

Smart infrastructure is essential for our local AI capability and to secure Australia’s position in the region. Investments in data centres will drive innovation in AI and economic growth, ensuring we remain competitive on the global stage. The Australian Government is taking action to ensure Australia remains a leading destination for data centre investment in the region while ensuring growth is sustainable, secure and delivers local benefits.

Australia offers a stable operating environment, clear legal protections, abundant renewable energy potential, available land and proximity to growing economies. Australia had the second highest capital investment in data centres globally in 2024, with $6.7 billion USD in investment. Having this infrastructure in Australia can help make sure that jobs, intellectual property, and innovation remain onshore. Australian data centres can also support the development of Australian AI models and applications for the public service and industry.

While data centres are an essential part of our digital infrastructure, they are substantial users of energy and can be large users of water. Data centres also need to integrate with telecommunications infrastructure, including international submarine cables, data transmission networks and internet exchange points.

As Australia’s data centre industry grows, this will have implications for Australia’s net zero ambitions. There are community expectations on industry to develop sustainable practices. The Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council are progressing actions to respond to the opportunities and challenges of data centre investment on the electricity grid, and the Water Ministerial Council is considering the broader implications of water management on increased data centre construction.

Many data centre operators are already demonstrating that they are interested in investing in Australia in ways that manage these impacts. For example, whilst conventional data centre cooling systems can consume tens of millions of litres annually, some Australian operators are adopting innovative solutions such as closed loop cooling to reduce water consumption, or alternate chip designs that are more efficient and only require air cooling. Many operators are looking for opportunities to support the deployment of renewable energy generation and storage, including signing onto long-term power purchase agreements with solar and wind developers.

Safe and secure data centre growth can support sustainability, strengthen energy security, and drive investment in clean technologies. To achieve this, the Australian Government is working with states and territories to develop voluntary principles to encourage investment in data centres which aligns with Australia’s overall national interest. The government is working with states and territories to explore opportunities to coordinate approvals for data centre projects where investments align with the data centre principles.

Growing Australia’s AI ecosystem and supporting widespread responsible AI adoption

Australia has considerable strengths we can leverage to build AI capability. We have a strong local technology sector and a world-class research sector with leading capabilities in sectors including computer vision, multimodal AI, AI evaluation, smart sensors and field robotics. We have a competitive edge in developing niche, high-value AI applications for sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and advanced manufacturing. Australia has an opportunity to develop AI to leverage our nationally connected research infrastructure and capabilities in high-performance computing to further drive scientific discoveries.

As one of Australia’s largest employers, the Australian Government is leveraging the Australian Public Service (APS) to lead in AI capability and responsible adoption. For example, in July 2025 the Australian Government launched GovAI to empower public servants to develop AI skills safely. GovAI is a centralised AI hosting service, providing agencies with a secure, Australian-based platform for developing customised AI solutions at low cost. This approach ensures government departments can innovate responsibly while maintaining sovereignty, security, and cost-efficiency in deploying AI technologies. On 12 November 2025, the Australian Government released an AI Plan for the Australian Public Service to use AI to better serve Australians. It sets out a vision for improving government service delivery, efficiency, and productivity, by increasing the use of AI in government. The AI Plan for the APS expands the GovAI platform and establishes Gov AI Chat, a secure, government-controlled generative AI tool developed specifically for the APS.

SMEs are the backbone of Australia’s economy – supporting innovation, creating jobs, and economic growth. Supporting SMEs to adopt AI is essential to ensure they remain competitive, efficient, and well-positioned to seize emerging market opportunities in an increasingly digital landscape. Many Australian consumers and businesses are early adopters of new AI technologies. Forty per cent of SMEs have adopted AI and Australia ranks highly in AI use by consumers.

To accelerate development and commercialisation of AI by businesses across Australia, in December 2025 the government announced it would launch an ‘AI Accelerator’ funding round of the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) program. The accelerator will be in 2 stages – first as a CRC Projects round in 2026 and then as a CRC round in 2027. The Accelerator will incentivise partnerships between businesses and research organisations. It will connect talented researchers with real-world challenges faced by industry, helping Australian ideas to scale and compete on the global stage.

Data is a strategic national asset and critical driver of modern economies. Both governments and the private sector hold high value data sets which can be used to support a globally competitive Australian AI sector. In the Australian Government’s Data and Digital Government Strategy (DDGS), the government commits to adopting emerging technologies and AI in safe, ethical and responsible ways. As part of this, and through the National AI Plan, the government is exploring opportunities to unlock high value datasets for pilot AI use cases. This will support the development and training of locally relevant AI applications and models. This work complements and builds on the work under the DDGS on consistent data standards and metadata, building trusted and secure approaches to data sharing, and identifying high value, non-sensitive datasets.

The National AI Centre (NAIC) is Australia’s leading government body supporting industry to unlock the economic benefits of AI. It aims to help Australia become a global leader in developing and adopting trusted, secure and responsible AI. The NAIC provides tailored guidance and direct engagement to help SMEs, not-for-profits, social enterprises and First Nations businesses adopt AI responsibly, including:

• The Guidance for AI Adoption, released in October 2025, includes a suite of practical resources to make AI adoption widely accessible, including editable AI policy templates. NAIC resources have been simplified in partnership with business.gov.au, ensuring even the smallest organisations can benefit.
• The Being Clear About AI-Generated Content guide, released in December 2025, guides businesses on how they can improve trust by alerting users to AI‑generated or modified content.
• A collaboration between NAIC and Infoxchange will see the creation of tailored AI adoption resources and templates for the not-for-profit sector, as well as new training and advisory services.
• The NAIC’s 2025 AI ecosystem report provides data‑driven insights into the current state of Australia’s AI ecosystem. The report supports decision‑makers in both the public and private sectors to make informed choices about investment opportunities, upskilling pathways and growth potential in the industry.
• NAIC is launching a dedicated platform (ai.gov.au) to consolidate guidance, training and use-case examples to support SMEs and end users to keep pace with industry change and complement existing cybersecurity resources.

This work builds on existing government support and investments into Australia’s AI ecosystem, including:

• $362 million in targeted grants from the Australian the Australian Research Council, Medical Research Future Fund, National Health and Medical Research Council and Cooperative Research Centres
• the $47 million Next Generation Graduates program which trains job ready graduates in skills needed by our AI and emerging technology industries
• the $17 million network of government-funded AI Adopt Centres which help Australian small to medium enterprises responsibly adopt AI tools by providing free services that help their business grow
• the $1 billion for critical technologies including AI under the National Reconstruction Fund, which provides targeted investments to diversify and transform Australian industry
• a $5 million investment in pilots involving generative AI in Australian schools through the Workload Reduction Fund, part of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan. This supports work by states and territories to trial GenAI through a range of initiatives, such as the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education’s NSWEduChat and Western Australia’s Generative AI pilot to reduce the workloads of teachers.

Preventing and mitigating AI harms to build confidence in AI and keep Australians safe

The Australian Government recognises that preventing and mitigating the harms of AI is essential to maintaining public trust and confidence in AI applications and upholding Australians’ rights.

AI technologies are already embedded across the economy, and a comprehensive regulatory approach is essential to protect Australians from AI-enabled harms. Australia has strong protections in place to address many risks, but the technology is fast‑moving and regulation must keep pace. The government’s regulatory approach to AI will continue to build on Australia’s robust existing legal and regulatory frameworks, ensuring that established laws remain the foundation for addressing and mitigating AI‑related risks. These include economy-wide laws on privacy, administrative law, online safety, corporations' law, intellectual property, workplace laws including work health and safety (WHS), workplace relations, competition and consumer protections, and anti-discrimination.

To support this approach, the Australian Government provided $29.8 million over 4 years from 2025–26 (and $7.9 million per year ongoing from 2029–2030) to establish the Australian AI Safety Institute. The role of the AI Safety Institute will be to assist Ministers, agencies, and regulators to ensure Australia’s laws keep pace with AI developments to protect people and businesses. The AI Safety Institute will not be a regulator.

The AI Safety Institute’s activities will include:

• monitoring and testing frontier AI models for safety
• sharing information and insights to support ministers and regulators to maintain safety measures, laws and regulatory frameworks and keep pace with rapid technological change
• collaborating with the International Network for Advanced AI Measurement, Evaluation and Science and its members to understand AI-related risks and harms.

The government is actively monitoring emerging risks and considering where further action will be needed to ensure safety and accountability as new frontier AI capabilities emerge. For example:

• The Online Safety Act 2021 protects Australians from technology-facilitated harms and is enforced by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. The government has also committed to legislating a Digital Duty of Care to place the onus on technology companies to make their products safer for Australian users and have systems and processes in place to prevent a range of online harms.
• In August 2024, the government amended the Criminal Code Act 1995, including to clarify that offences criminalising the non-consensual sharing of sexually explicit material extend to material that has been created or altered using AI or other technologies.
• The government has committed to take action to restrict access via app stores and search engines to ‘nudify’ and undetectable online stalking tools.
• AGD is engaging with stakeholders through the Copyright and AI Reference Group on 3 priority areas relating to Australian copyright law and AI. The government has provided certainty to Australian creators by making it clear it is not considering a text and data mining exemption in Australian copyright law.
• The Attorney-General is leading work to develop a modernised and clear Privacy Act 1988(Cth), which achieves the right balance between facilitating greater adoption of technologies like AI and updating privacy protections to underpin trust in digital services.
• The Safe and Responsible AI in Healthcare Legislation and Regulation Review (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing 2024) assessed the impact of AI on healthcare regulation and published the Final Report on the health.gov.au website in July 2025.
• The Therapeutic Goods Administration oversees AI used in medical device software and led the review on Clarifying and Strengthening the Regulation of Medical Device Software including Artificial Intelligence.
• Home Affairs considers that AI will almost certainly amplify and reshape existing national security risks, with the potential to generate new and unknown risks. As the national security policy lead on AI, Home Affairs, the National Intelligence Community and law enforcement agencies will continue efforts to proactively mitigate the most serious risks posed by AI. Home Affairs has contributed to the uplift of critical infrastructure, an uplift of Australia’s data security settings, international collaboration on AI security, and is coordinating a multiagency group on synthetic biology and AI.
• The government is taking proactive steps to prepare for any potential AI-related incident. The Australian Government Crisis Management Framework provides the overarching policy for managing potential crises.
• The Australian Framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools was jointly developed by states and territories and non-government representative bodies through the AI Taskforce and released for implementation by states and territories on 1 December 2023. The framework provides nationally consistent guidance to schools and their communities on the use of GenAI. It seeks to guide the responsible and ethical use of GenAI tools in ways that benefit students, schools, and society.
• SWA have received feedback and submissions through the best practice review of the model WHS laws relating to AI. The opportunities and impacts of using AI in the workplace is being considered as part of the review, and any recommendations will be provided for work health and safety Ministers’ consideration in the final report.
• The approach is practical and risk-based, targeting emerging threats such as AI‑enabled crime and AI facilitated abuse, which disproportionately impacts women and girls. AI has manifested harms to First Nations people, including through perpetuating harmful stereotypes and the use, misattribution and falsification of First Nations cultural and intellectual property. The government will continue to genuinely engage with impacted First Nations communities, including on alignment with Closing the Gap reforms and Indigenous data sovereignty principles, to understand and treat these risks.

These efforts are supported by the government’s international engagements on AI governance. Australia’s international engagement aims to ensure Australia’s values, including safety, transparency, and inclusion are embedded in international AI norms and standards. The government’s ambition is to align international frameworks with domestic approaches and to reduce regulatory friction and support innovation. This will further cement Australia as a trusted partner in global supply chains and a leader in secure, responsible AI adoption of trusted technologies across the region.

The Australian Government recognises that strengthening our scientific understanding of AI is essential to manage risks, drive responsible adoption, and expand access to the benefits of AI. We are actively participating in international scientific collaboration and policy coordination on AI safety as a founding member of the International Network for Advanced AI Measurement, Evaluation and Science, and through our contributions to the International AI Safety Report. Through the Australian AI Safety Institute, Australia will continue progressing the science of AI safety by leveraging international research partnerships, including through joint testing exercises and setting research priorities to understand and prevent AI-enabled harms.

Building a workforce ready for an AI-enabled future

The rapid advancement and adoption of AI is transforming workplaces across Australia. As adoption of AI reshapes job roles, skills requirements and employment structures, it is essential that these changes are managed in ways that support safe, secure and fairly paid jobs across workplaces. Proactive planning and collaboration between government, industry, workers and unions is vital to ensuring that Australian workers not only have the skills and supports to adapt to, but can thrive in, an AI-enabled future.

Analysis by Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) in 2025, as part of the Generative‑AI Capacity Study, found that in the near-term AI is more likely to augment rather than replace most work, with only 4% of Australia’s workforce in occupations with high automation exposure. JSA’s analysis, based on the capabilities of GPT-4 in late 2025, indicated that large-scale job displacement is not occurring in Australia and the most significant employment effects are not expected for at least a decade. However, the government recognises that there is uncertainty around the direct effects of AI on the labour market, and there are community concerns.

As AI reshapes how Australians work and working conditions, continuing a tripartite dialogue with business, unions and experts to agree on a shared approach to the opportunities and challenges of AI is vital. Consultation and codesign between employers and employees can assist in capturing the benefits of AI in safe, fair and cooperative workplaces. As part of the National AI Plan, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations has committed to continuing tripartite arrangements with respect to AI’s impact on the labour market. This work brings together key stakeholders across the labour market to work collaboratively towards Australia’s AI objectives including addressing skills, training, worker and workforce transitions and strengthening workplace relations settings. This work is particularly important for groups at higher risk of disruption, including women, First Nations people, career starters, mature-aged workers, people with disability, and those in regional areas.

AI must be used as a tool for inclusive growth, whereby workers share in governance and in gains, through wages, equity, skills and security. To achieve this, the Australian Government is taking early action to support workers through this transition, with initiatives underway to boost digital skills, expand training access, and grow an inclusive pipeline of AI-ready workers. For example:

• The National Skills Agreement (NSA) is ensuring the national VET sector provides high-quality, responsive and accessible education and training to boost productivity, deliver national priorities and support Australians to obtain the skills and capabilities they need to prosper. Ensuring Australia’s digital and technological capability is an agreed national priority under the NSA.
• The 10 Jobs and Skills Councils (JSCs) are a national network of industry-owned and led tripartite organisations funded by the Commonwealth. JSCs collaborate with employers, unions, governments and training organisations to identify and address skills and workforce challenges within their respective industry sectors, including those driven by AI and other emerging technologies.
• The Minister for Skills and Training has asked all JSCs to address AI skilling and training issues within their respective industries.
• JSA is providing evidence-based analysis of labour market trends and skills needs. This includes studies on how generative AI is reshaping job roles.
• TAFEs delivering digital and AI training through targeted initiatives. The Institute of Applied Technology offers several AI microcredential courses, such as the Responsible AI microcredential. These courses have attracted more than 150,000 enrolments to date. Through the NAIC, and in partnership with TAFE NSW’s Institute of Applied Technology – Digital, the government is also offering one million fully subsidised scholarships for an online microskill course based on the government’s Guidance for AI Adoption, launched in October 2025.
• The Next Generation Graduates Program is building a pipeline of highly skilled professionals in AI and emerging technologies through industry-linked postgraduate scholarships.
• The Key Apprenticeship Program (KAP) is supporting apprenticeships in high‑priority housing construction and clean energy sectors to deliver on key national priorities. Under the KAP, the New Energy Apprenticeship stream encourages apprentices to pursue careers in clean energy, which may also support the skills required in sectors to support the development of AI infrastructure.
• NAIC is continuing to engage with key professional associations to ensure AI and responsible AI learning are available through their membership networks.

In addition to ensuring workers are positioned to capture the opportunities of AI through skills and training programs, the Australian Government is focused on ensuring our laws are equipped to manage the risk while recognising the opportunity in new technologies. This includes:

• Supporting the inquiry into the operation and adequacy of the National Employment Standards (NES) in the Fair Work Act 2009, which was adopted by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations, Skills and Training on 27 November 2025, following a referral from the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Hon Amanda Rishworth MP. Among other things, this inquiry will examine the extent to which the NES are fit for purpose, having regard to the changing nature of work.
• Supporting an independent statutory review into the operation of both Closing Loopholes Acts. These Acts include a range of measures which ensure Australia’s workplace relations frameworks remain fit for purpose and meet the demands of modern workplaces, for example protections for 'employee-like' workers in the gig economy.
• Continuing a tripartite dialogue with business, unions and experts on the impacts of the adoption of new technologies considering the opportunities and challenges of AI. DEWR has experience in tripartite consultation and is actively engaging with businesses and unions to implement the relevant parts of the National AI Plan. This includes monitoring and reviewing legislative frameworks to ensure they are fit for purpose, provide protection from AI harms, and capture the benefits of AI through fostering cooperative workplaces where worker’s voices are represented in the transition.

Supporting our creative sector in the age of AI

The Australian Government is invested in the success of Australia’s creative and media industries. It is important that the development and adoption of AI technologies is done in a way that builds trust and confidence in their use. Having provided certainty to Australian creators by announcing that the government is not considering a text and data mining exception in Australian copyright law, the government is working with stakeholders to find solutions to encourage innovation while protecting and supporting Australian creators.

AGD is engaging with these stakeholders, including representatives of the creative, media, and technology sectors, primarily through the Copyright and AI Reference Group (CAIRG). AGD has recently consulted with the CAIRG on 3 priority areas:

• Encouraging fair, legal avenues for using copyright material in AI through examination of how different licensing arrangements could support AI development in Australia.
• Improving certainty on the application of copyright law to material generated through the use of AI.
• Exploring avenues for less costly enforcement, including through a potential small claims forum to efficiently address lower value copyright infringement matters.

The government is currently considering feedback received from CAIRG participants on these issues. Other issues related to copyright and AI may be the subject of future government consultations. The government commits, in its National Cultural Policy – Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place, to maintaining a strong copyright framework that works in concert with other legal and policy mechanisms to ensure reasonable and equitable use of copyright material. Consultations on the next National Cultural Policy will commence in 2026 and be led by the Office for the Arts. The use and impacts of AI on Australia’s cultural and creative sector will be considered as part of these consultations.

Government will use automated decision-making transparently to improve public services

Automated decision-making (ADM) has many benefits, including improved customer service, but it is important to ensure ADM is used fairly, transparently and lawfully to benefit the Australian community.

AGD is developing a consistent legislative framework for the use of ADM in the delivery of government services, as part of the government’s response to recommendations 17.1 and 17.2 of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme’s final report. The government accepted recommendations 17.1 and 17.2.

The framework is intended to provide an enabling environment to support the safe and responsible use of ADM in government and promote consistency in key legislative provisions, including safeguards and transparency requirements. Policy development for the ADM framework has been informed by extensive stakeholder consultation, including public submissions and an online survey, roundtables, bilateral meetings, and consultations with Commonwealth agencies. Key themes emerging from this consultation included transparency, fairness and accountability and consistency across government in the use of ADM.

The framework will be technology-neutral to enable it to apply to emerging technologies, including ADM systems enabled by AI. AGD is continuing to work across government on the development of the framework to ensure consistency with existing regulatory frameworks and legislation, including reforms on AI and privacy.

AGD’s 2022 Privacy Act Review Report proposed providing individuals with a right to request meaningful information about how substantially automated decisions involving personal information are made. The government is considering this proposal in the context of its work to develop a consistent framework for the use of ADM in government services.

In its first term, the government delivered a first tranche of privacy reform through the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Cth). From 10 December 2026, the Privacy Act will require regulated entities to include information in their privacy policies about how personal information is used in substantially automated decisions which affect individuals’ rights or interests. This includes the kinds of decisions that are substantially automated and the kinds of personal information used in these decisions.

Government is expanding digital literacy to safeguard Australian elections

The rapid evolution, competency and widespread nature of AI technologies means that bad faith actors have a greater array of tools at their disposal. These tools pose direct challenges and risks to the health of Australian elections.AI generated disinformation can be deployed to influence the outcome of political debates or contests, as well as create public uncertainty leading to reduced trust in the electoral process and engagement with politics more generally.

To address risks related to electoral integrity, the government introduced the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Communications) Bill in 2024 to prohibit the authorisation of electoral and referendum communications that are inaccurate and misleading, and to require materials modified using digital technology (including AI) to carry a statement indicating such modification.

As is customary after each federal election, the government has established a Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM). JSCEM is a multi-partisan committee and is currently holding public hearings and receiving submissions for its inquiry for the 2025 federal election. The JSCEM provides a multi-partisan forum to consider emerging risks to our electoral system. The government will consider any changes to electoral laws following the JSCEM inquiry.

The AEC also expanded its Stop and Consider campaign for the 2025 federal election. Digital and social media advertisements directed voters to a Stop and Consider hub on the AEC website, including a suite of new information tools with information and tips on how to detect false or misleading information about the electoral process. The AEC also provided this information through social media channels, community education and public relations activities. The AEC also publishes an AI Transparency Statement that explains where AI is used and where it is not used in election delivery.

The Electoral Integrity Assurance Taskforce assessed after the 2025 federal election that the use of AI did not interfere with election delivery nor was it likely to have impacted Australians’ trust in the results.

The Australian Government has also committed to delivering a National Media Literacy Strategy to set out a clear and coordinated national approach and help Australians build the skills needed to navigate the challenges and opportunities of the digital world.