Treasurer Jim Chalmers has pledged to conduct another review of gaps in artificial intelligence regulation, stalling a push for a stand-alone law to govern the nascent technology. Source: The Australian.
The Albanese Government is weighing up whether new AI-specific legislation is needed to address issues such as copyright protections, employment and data privacy, or whether the technology should be regulated instead within existing laws.
A vocal proponent of the former option has been the ACTU, and its secretary, Sally McManus, used the Treasurer’s economic reform roundtable yesterday to call on the Government to introduce the new legislation.
Business groups including the Tech Council of Australia, whose chairman, Scott Farquhar, is attending the roundtable, instead have urged against the development of a new AI law, arguing that the additional regulatory impost risks stifling innovation and corresponding productivity gains.
Despite the calls from the union movement, roundtable participants yesterday said there was strong consensus that the Government avoid that path.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox claimed the ACTU had effectively been “talked around” from its original stance.
Participants said the Treasurer had concluded instead that he would conduct a so-called gap analysis, which would pinpoint shortcomings within existing regulatory frameworks rather than writing new laws.
This commitment comes despite former industry minister Ed Husic having conducted such work during Labor’s first term.
The growing consensus over AI regulation came as NSW Labor Treasurer Daniel Mookhey implored state and territory governments earlier yesterday to follow his lead and employ the nascent technology to help unclog Australia’s housing approval backlog.
Labor has a goal to build 1.2 million “well-located” homes by mid-2029; however, Treasury has advised that the ambitious target “will not be met”, and experts and industry blame slow planning approval processes for putting new housing supply at risk.
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Jim Chalmers commits to another AI review, stalling push for a stand-alone law (By Jack Quail, The Australian)
