Sussan Ley concerned no ‘guardrails’ to prevent AI from using copyrighted work
Josh Butler
The opposition leader Sussan Ley came out strongly against suggestions big tech companies could get a special deal to let their AI programs use copyrighted work from Australian journalists, creatives and artists, saying creators deserve fair compensation.
In a press conference today, Ley was asked about the Productivity Commission’s report into AI, which laid out several options on copyright material, including one suggestion of “amending the Copyright Act to include a fair dealing exception that would cover text and data mining”.
Ley said she was concerned that there were no “guardrails to prevent big tech stealing the hard earned products of our content creators, whether they be journalists or artists or musicians or writers.” She said:
It is not appropriate for big tech to steal the work of Australian artists, musicians, creators, news media, journalism, and use it for their own ends without paying for it.
We have to protect content creators, and I don’t see that. There’s very wishy-washy language coming from this government this morning about protecting the real intellectual property and the creative work of so many incredible Australians.
We need a government that actually protects our content creators. We need a government that backs in our artists, our writers, our musicians and our unique and special Australian content.
Ley continued that she had heard “alarm” from content creators and journalists about the suggestion. She said the opposition would continue consulting with interested parties, but stated: “that work is theirs and it can’t be taken without it being paid for.”
Opposition leader Sussan Ley. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 23.35 EDT
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Tasmanian trainer fined $2,000 for animal cruelty after repeatedly whipping racehorse
A Tasmanian racehorse trainer has been fined $2,000 after pleading guilty to animal cruelty for whipping a horse more than 40 times in four minutes, Martin Agatyn reports.
Liandra Gray was found guilty of one count of causing unreasonable and unjustifiable pain to 7-year-old thoroughbred gelding The Bolt by striking him repeatedly with a padded racing whip.
Magistrate Evan Hughes found the charge proven after a hearing in the Devonport magistrates court in May, and on Wednesday handed down a fine of $2,000, saying the court needed to demonstrate a general deterrent to breaches of the Tasmanian Animal Welfare Act.
The maximum penalty under the act is an $18,000 fine and 12 months’ prison.
Read more here:
Updated at 00.27 EDT
Australian share market hits record high
Australia’s share market has surged to record highs as miners helped the bourse shrug off a weak Wall Street session to top 8,800 points for the first time, AAP reports.
Buyers pushed the S&P/ASX200 up 0.6% as the broader All Ordinaries surged 0.64%. By midday the two indexes had eased to 8,818.6 and 9,084.3 points respectively.
The morning rally came after the top-200’s best-ever close on Tuesday, and flew past its previous intraday best of 8,776.4 on 18 July, taking its combined market capitalisation to $2.9tn.
The All Ordinaries, which includes the Australian Securities Exchange’s top 500 companies, is now valued at $3.1tn.
Helping the local bourse buck an overnight down-tick on Wall Street was Australia’s relative lack of volatility-prone tech companies and an ongoing influx of funds into global miners, said Michael McCarthy, a strategist at the Moomoo market trading platform.
Photograph: David Gray/ReutersShare
Updated at 00.13 EDT
Tasmania Labor leader says motion of no confidence in premier to come on first day of new parliament
Tasmania’s Labor leader, Dean Winter, said Tasmania needs a government that will last the next four years, just hours after premier Jeremy Rockliff was reappointed until at least 19 August by the state’s governor.
Winter is speaking at a press conference, saying “we need to change the way that the parliament works and we need to change the government”. He said a motion of no confidence will be tabled on the first day of the new parliament, either by Labor or a crossbencher.
It is clear we need a parliament that will work together and Tasmania Labor stands ready to work with the crossbench to deliver Tasmanians a stable parliament and a stable government that can last four years. …
Tasmanians can be assured that any motion we move will not result in another election, it will result in either a Liberal government or a Labor government. …
There will be a motion moved. Whether it is by us or an independent, a motion will be moved in parliament of no-confidence in the Liberals and confidence in a Labor government.
Dean Winter. Photograph: Chris Kidd/AAPShare
Updated at 23.58 EDT
Sivaraman stresses needs to work with all communities at once to address discrimination
Giridharan Sivaraman, the race discrimination commissioner, said the government needs to come up with solutions to address hate speech that help “all communities”, and that involves talking to all sides while not pitting people from one demographic against another. He said:
When it comes to solutions that will tackle racism, if you just work with one community to the exclusion of another, you don’t come up with solutions that will help everyone. Other communities feel like they’re not seen, they’re not heard, that their trauma isn’t real.
That creates distrust in government. It creates distrust between communities.
The special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AP
He was also asked about Jillian Segal’s proposal to adopt a working definition of antisemitism. Sivaraman said the Race Discrimination Act already provides protections against racial discrimination without “specific definitions of particular types of racism”:
I don’t think we could move towards very specific definitions of types of racism.
Updated at 23.43 EDT
Sussan Ley concerned no ‘guardrails’ to prevent AI from using copyrighted workJosh Butler
The opposition leader Sussan Ley came out strongly against suggestions big tech companies could get a special deal to let their AI programs use copyrighted work from Australian journalists, creatives and artists, saying creators deserve fair compensation.
In a press conference today, Ley was asked about the Productivity Commission’s report into AI, which laid out several options on copyright material, including one suggestion of “amending the Copyright Act to include a fair dealing exception that would cover text and data mining”.
Ley said she was concerned that there were no “guardrails to prevent big tech stealing the hard earned products of our content creators, whether they be journalists or artists or musicians or writers.” She said:
It is not appropriate for big tech to steal the work of Australian artists, musicians, creators, news media, journalism, and use it for their own ends without paying for it.
We have to protect content creators, and I don’t see that. There’s very wishy-washy language coming from this government this morning about protecting the real intellectual property and the creative work of so many incredible Australians.
We need a government that actually protects our content creators. We need a government that backs in our artists, our writers, our musicians and our unique and special Australian content.
Ley continued that she had heard “alarm” from content creators and journalists about the suggestion. She said the opposition would continue consulting with interested parties, but stated: “that work is theirs and it can’t be taken without it being paid for.”
Opposition leader Sussan Ley. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 23.35 EDT
Police arrest man on charges of supplying ‘supercharged’ vape liquid laced with synthetic opioid
NSW police have a charged a Sydney man with allegedly supplying vape liquid laced with nitazene, a synthetic opioid officials warn is highly addictive, potent and potentially lethal.
Officials said the man, 20, was arrested on Friday after a raid on a home in Revesby in Sydney’s west. Police seized 2.1kg of nitazene during that raid, part of what they described as an alleged sophisticated drug distribution model surrounding nitazene-laced vapes sold between March and July.
Police alleged the vials of vape liquid were labeled as “supercharged”.
The man faces charges of supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime. He has been refused bail.
Det Supt John Watson, the commander of the drug and firearms squad, said he was deeply concerned after the raid. Health officials say nitazenes can be stronger than fentanyl.
Nitazenes are highly addictive, incredibly potent and can be lethal. …
This is the first time in Australia someone has been charged with supplying nitazene-laced vape liquid, which [we allege] demonstrates a disturbing evolution in the illicit drug trade, but our squad is constantly adapting to meet these emerging threats head-on.
Updated at 23.28 EDT
Race discrimination commissioner says balance between protection against hate speech and freedom of institutions must be made
Giridharan Sivaraman, the race discrimination commissioner, is speaking at the National Press Club.
Guardian Australia’s Krishani Dhanji just asked about special envoy on antisemitism Jillian Segal’s proposal that universities have their funding frozen if they don’t adequately address such hate.
Sivaraman said:
There has to be protection against racial vilification and hate speech, but there also has to be protection of the independence of institutions, whether it’s universities, media or other institutions. And that protection means that whatever restrictions you make need to be proportionate to the harm that you’re trying to eradicate. …
It is really important to get that right and that is something certainly that we’ll have to grapple with in our universities study.
Race discrimination commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 23.16 EDT
Patrick Commins
Should big tech be allowed to mine Australians’ text and data to train AI? The Productivity Commission is considering it
The Productivity Commission is examining whether technology firms should be exempted from copyright rules that stop companies from mining text and data to train artificial intelligence models.
The PC, in its interim report into “harnessing data and the digital economy”, used copyright as a case study for how Australia’s existing regulatory framework could be adapted to manage the risks of artificial intelligence.
A key recommendation from the interim report was that the federal government should conduct a sweeping review of regulations to plug potential gaps that could be exploited by “bad actors” using AI.
Read more here:
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Luca Ittimani
Nearly 40 flood rescues among the 2,500 incidents tackled by NSW SES
NSW’s State Emergency Service has responded to more than 2,500 incidents, including nearly 40 flood rescues, as severe weather batters the state.
The SES said 143 of those emergency incidents had occurred in the 24 hours to 9am Wednesday. It also recorded more than 4,800 calls for help since heavy rain began threatening communities in the state’s north on Monday.
The SES warned of further flooding this afternoon in Narrabri and Wee Waa, in the state’s New England region, sending support to the region and warning residents to evacuate or prepare to leave.
Nearly 50 warnings remain in force across the Mid North Coast, Upper Hunter and New England regions. The SES expects flooding to endure in Gunnedah despite rain easing, while floodwaters are continuing to fall in the Hunter.
ShareNSW Greens trying to protect Mark Latham ‘troubling’
Jordyn Beazley
Staying with New South Wales politics:
The independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, has responded to the censure motions against Mark Latham failing. He said:
Given the seriousness of the issue raised, and the public outrage, it’s deeply troubling that the Greens voted to protect Mark Latham.
Labor’s leader in the upper house, Penny Sharpe, had pushed for a censure motion against Latham, a former One Nation and now independent MP. But the opposition, Greens and some of the minor party members agreed to delay the move, arguing it should wait for the results of the privileges inquiry.
Alex Greenwich (left) leaving federal court in 2024 after bringing a defamation lawsuit against Mark Latham. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Sharpe had detailed Latham’s use of parliamentary privilege, which protects MPs from defamation proceedings, to share the medical records of Greenwich. The records had been part of a workplace sexual harassment and vilification claim that Greenwich won against Latham.
More on this story here:
Updated at 00.28 EDT
NSW moves to hike illegal tobacco fines and prison sentences
Anne Davies
Sellers of illegal tobacco will face large fines of up to $1.5m and seven years imprisonment under new laws before the NSW parliament today, the state’s health minister, Ryan Park, has announced.
The government also will introduce short term 30-day closure orders which can be followed up with longer 1-year closures issued by courts, as well as powers to remove licences to sell tobacco legally from those caught also selling illegal tobacco.
“What we are determined to do is stem the spread of these illegal tobacco shops across NSW and across Sydney,” Park said.
The premier, Chris Minns, said NSW had been prompted to act after Queensland introduced tough new laws. He said:
I don’t want to be in a position where that illegal trade migrates across the Queensland-NSW border into our state.
Park said:
We don’t pretend we can stop this trade immediately. But it is another step to reduce the availability of this product across NSW.
The government is also increasing the number of enforcement officers within the health department who will work with NSW police.
Minns said NSW would continue to advocate for the federal government a cut to the excise on legal tobacco, despite the federal health minister, Mark Butler, rejecting this approach.
Minns said it was “a commonsense approach” to cut excise on tobacco to bring down the cost of legal tobacco.
Updated at 22.33 EDT
Caitlin Cassidy
University of Sydney responds to increase in sexual misconduct complaints
In an email to the university community on Wednesday, the vice chancellor, Prof Mark Scott, said the report underscored the university’s commitment to “transparency, accountability and care” in addressing sexual misconduct.
Scott said:
We acknowledge the strength and courage of all victim-survivors … Sexual misconduct is unacceptable in any form, and we recognise our unique responsibility to help drive meaningful change in our community.
While we have made progress in fostering a safer and more respectful environment for our community, we continue working to listen, build trust, and reduce barriers for those who bravely report sexual misconduct.
Scott noted there was a 7% increase in the ratio of complaints to disclosures, which may reflect a “greater awareness of and confidence in our complaints handling processes and a higher number of bystander complaints”.
The quadrangle at the University of Sydney. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
There were 176 disclosures to the university, which are reported by people who don’t want investigations or specific actions to be taken but may be seeking support.
All disclosures and complaints are reflected in the university’s report regardless of where the incident occurred or who it involved.
This year’s report comes as a National Student Ombudsman has been operating on campuses as part of the federal government action plan to address gender-based violence in higher education.
Updated at 22.13 EDT
Sexual misconduct complaints nearly double at University of SydneyCaitlin Cassidy
Sexual misconduct complaints have almost doubled at the University of Sydney in the past year, new data shows, with the vice chancellor attributing the rise to greater awareness in its processes.
The university’s third annual report on sexual misconduct, released on Wednesday, found there had been 55 sexual misconduct complaints in 2024, including 38 that were victim-survivor led, 10 lodged by bystanders and seven initiated by the university due to concerns over student or staff safety.
All were confirmed to be incidents of university-related sexual misconduct, up from 29 in 2023 and 22 in 2022. Eight of last year’s complaints were categorised as sexual assault and 47 were categorised as sexual harassment.
Since 2023, one person has been expelled from the university over sexual misconduct and two have been suspended, the report found.
Universities are not required to publicly release sexual misconduct data, but it is becoming more common as the sector addresses backlash over poor complaints mechanisms. Of Australia’s 39 public universities, almost a dozen – including the University of Melbourne, ANU, UNSW and Monash – have begun formally disclosing annual reports.
The latest National Student Safety Survey, released in 2021, found one in 20 students had been sexually assaulted since starting university and one in six had reported being sexually harassed. Universities Australia, the peak body for the sector, was due to hold another national survey in 2024 after criticism over its response to student safety but it was yet to be released.
Updated at 22.33 EDT