AI in Australia's Interests

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respect to elders past, present and emerging.

It’s great to be back at Sydney University, a place that holds so many fond memories.

When I was studying economics here in the 1980s, the world was being taught the meaning of economic rationalism.

Thatcherism in Britain, Reaganomics in the United States.

Yet here in Australia we were making a different choice and moving in a different direction.

Because while other nations were being remade by a philosophy which held there is ‘no such thing as society’.

Australia was building what has become one of the truest expressions of our society, and the duty we owe to each other as members of it, I speak of course of Medicare.

That was an act of economic reform, of social justice – and a statement of national ambition.

In creating Medicare, Australia didn’t beg or borrow from elsewhere.

We built for the best, by building for ourselves.

That thread runs through our national story.

As innovators and inventors, in science and research, in agriculture and energy.

And in democracy, progress and fairness too.

Back when the industrial revolution was fundamentally altering the shape of the economy and the nature of work the minimum wage and eight-hour day were radical experiments.

Today, those Australian ideas are rights that workers have fought for and won around the globe.

We were the first country in the world where women could stand for Parliament and vote in elections.

And these were free and fair elections, conducted by secret ballot - something other democracies called ‘the Australian ballot’.

In the 1990s, universal superannuation was controversial.

Today, in nearly every meeting I have with foreign leaders and international investors alike, they raise our super system as world-leading.

In September 2024, when I announced that our Government would be implementing a Social Media Ban for Australians under the age of 16 that too was seen as radical.

We were told it was too late to act and too hard to implement.

That its opponents were too powerful to listen, or change.

We understood the difficulties we were up against.

But we also knew that our action would send a signal and set a standard.

It would start conversations within families and friendship groups.

It would help parents and teachers talk to young people about the harmful impacts of social media, with government and the law as back-up.

Australia’s social media ban started these same conversations right around the world.

By the time I was at the United Nations in September last year, countries were seeking us out to learn about the approach that we were taking.

Today, more than 20 nations have implemented or are implementing social media age restrictions of their own.

And many more are having the discussion.

That is a credit to the courage of Australian parents, people who channelled unimaginable grief into a selfless call for action.

And it is proof of what Australia can do, when we back ourselves.

When we apply our enduring values to the challenges that are presented by new technologies.

We can set a standard that changes the way the world looks at an issue and deals with it.

And to take that example of social media one step further, imagine if the world had acted a decade ago.

Imagine the difference it would have made if these limits had been put in place when the world first grasped the risks of these platforms.

When we first understood their reach and indeed their power.

That is the opportunity – and the choice - we have now with Artificial Intelligence.

From smartphones to rooftop solar, Australians have always been enthusiastic adopters of new technology.

And AI is of course already part of our daily lives.

Not as a novelty, or a search tool.

It’s changing the way our universities teach and the way students learn.

It’s helping small business owners cut the time they spend on paperwork.

It’s driving productivity and it's driving discovery.

It’s building new screening tools for cancer and disease.

It is a critical – and urgent - innovation priority for our defence force and security agencies.

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 and leaving ourselves open to risks created elsewhere.

The fact that we cannot stop change, does not render us powerless, far from it.

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.

That’s why we are serious about attracting frontier AI investment to Australia.

Because we want AI to support and create good jobs, not replace them.

All of this is a bigger challenge - and a bigger opportunity - than social media, no question about that.

But not only are we coming to the issue earlier, we have more than time on our side.

We have the advantage of geography.

The expansion of AI requires a physical, material footprint.

It needs our land and energy and computing power to operate.

That means we can set the terms, we can determine AI’s social licence.

But we have to do it now.

We cannot revisit this issue after companies have built whatever they want, wherever they want, and try and then re-open negotiations.

This is our time to decide what AI looks like here in Australia.

It is not a question of ‘if’ or ‘when’ AI will transform our economy, we are past that.

The question that matters, the choice that we have - is how.

How we apply our enduring values of fairness and opportunity to make this technology work for us.

For workers and communities, for our economy and our environment, for our creative industries and media.

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

Our nation is home to global leaders in AI - and I am pleased so many are here with us today.

But you do not need to be an expert in AI to have a say or a stake in it.

We are all involved.

Because the real issues AI presents are not technical ones - they are economic ones, legal ones, social ones, and as Pope Leo has made clear in his superb first Papal Encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, there is also moral and spiritual ones.

They are tests of our national values and our national interests.

And tests of our national resolve, co-operation and ambition.

If we act now, if we mobilise our resources and co-ordinate our efforts.

If we move with the urgency that the speed of this change demands.

If we build to match the scale of the opportunity that this moment presents.

And if we do it the Australian way, true to our values and our standards.

We can make AI work in Australia’s National Interests.

Last week, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations published real-time, data-driven analysis of AI’s impact on the labour market.

The first research of this kind by any government anywhere in the world.

It found that while some roles are changing, graduate employment is high.

Software and tech jobs are growing.

Nationwide, unemployment remains of course near historic lows.

And participation is at record highs.

Our skilled and diverse workforce is just one of the reasons that the world is queuing up to invest in Australia.

Consider what international investors look for – and then think about what we have:

World class universities, producing skilled graduates and high-quality research.

The traditional resources, critical minerals and rare earths that are essential.

The space to build.

The sunlight to power affordable, renewable, reliable energy.

Strong bonds with the fastest growing region of the world in human history.

A legal and financial system at the top of the global ladder for integrity, the security of transactions, timeliness of payments and smart use of technology.

And – underpinning it all - a stable democracy.

Truly, there is nowhere else you’d rather be than Australia.

Just as our Government’s Future Made in Australia agenda is about making the most of these national strengths making more things here, to make ourselves more resilient and more sovereign we must bring this same ambition to the opportunities of AI.

We cannot settle for a short-term boom in capital expenditure and construction.

We must create a new generation of good, secure jobs for our economy.

And while the world is looking to us, we know it won't wait for us.

If we hang back, or stand still, this will run right over the top of us.

And if we descend into self-doubt, or wander out into the global market as a disparate collection of states and councils and companies and firms, rather than one country, then others will write the rules and - maybe - they will play by them.

That would not only risk the integrity of Australian artists and journalists.

It would mean subcontracting our sovereignty and security to the control of foreign monopolies.

And relegating our workers and our economy to the last link of the digital supply chain.

We cannot - and we will not - accept that for Australia.

The inescapable lesson of the global instability of the 2020s, is that if we are always dependent on someone else, somewhere else, we will always be vulnerable.

This is true for resources and technology alike.

It is why we legislated to keep the NBN in public hands.

So that even as communications technology is increasingly distributed amongst different networks and overseas interests, Australians retain sovereignty over our high-speed internet.

Our great country can be much more than a data warehouse for AI products made overseas.

We can do much more than manage investment in ideas from elsewhere.

We can lead in everything from cybersecurity and biotechnology to advanced manufacturing.

This is why we want Australia to have more of a stake in where AI is made – and how it is made.

We want great universities like this one, leading the way.

And we want more Australian companies and global firms developing AI here.

To boost our sovereign capability.

To strengthen our national security.

And build our economic resilience.

Today I announce that to seize and shape and share the generational opportunity that AI represents our Government will establish a set of Australian Standards for AI.

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

This will bring them into one regulatory framework.

Clear, consistent and mandatory.

I will seek agreement on this approach from Premiers and Chief Ministers at National Cabinet I'm convening next month.

We will aim to bring the legislation to Parliament 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.

It is not our goal to try and legislate for every possible eventuality or risk.

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.

Setting the terms means we can put in place the strongest possible protection for Australian artists and Australian media.

As a Government, we make a wide range of important, factual information available online.

Whether it is disaster warnings or tra

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