ABC’s AI reporter Cam Wilson has jumped in to answer this one.
Heya, cheers for the question! We haven’t gotten a lot of separation between the major political parties at a federal level just yet.
As made clear in the PM’s big AI speech last month, the Albanese government wants major investment from the big AI and tech companies to bring the benefits of the buzzy technology here. It’s working on a set of “Australian standards” that establish requirements for data centre approvals around water, energy, jobs and the like.
The Coalition hasn’t announced an official AI policy, but it’s walking a similar line: seeking the productivity benefits of AI and investment, while wanting some regulation to curb risk. Same, too, with One Nation, according to Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club address where she said that the party wanted to “encourage AI adoption and its economic benefits while imposing enforceable safeguards”.
The major outlier is the Greens, who are calling for a halt to building data centres until federal regulations are worked out. It also gets a bit more interesting at a state and local level, too, where we’re seeing more anti-AI and anti-data centre positions being taken ahead of council and state elections later this year.