![\"Rob](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2e2c563a2c883f4262123a6f31f663ad728622cdd079d5da02f3e6a34b3716fd.png\")
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March 27, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n A rift has opened within the Albanese government over how far Australia should bend its copyright laws to lure the artificial intelligence boom, setting up a clash between ministers chasing global investment and a creative sector warning it is being asked to bankroll Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n A gulf appears to have widened between ministers whose portfolios focus on economic growth, and those responsible for copyright and media policy, who are resisting any move that could allow AI companies to train their systems on Australian content without permission or payment.<\/p>\n Tech giants Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft and Google are all in discussions with the federal government to spend billions on constructing data centres in Australia, but as a trade-off have pushed for easier access to local content to train AI, as well as certainty over tax treatment and sweetheart deals on energy and water laws.<\/p>\n The dispute was sharpened by comments from Assistant Technology Minister Andrew Charlton earlier this week<\/a>, who declared Australia\u2019s copyright settings were \u201cnot working\u201d in the AI age and flagged the government could overhaul laws to both attract investment and allow the pursuit of big tech for breaching copyright.<\/p>\n Charlton\u2019s remarks rattled confidence among the creative rights sector, just six months after the Albanese government had explicitly ruled out handing tech companies free rein to mine creative content<\/a> to train their local artificial intelligence models.<\/p>\n Related Article A senior government source, granted anonymity to speak freely, said there were two clear groups emerging within the ministry. They said Charlton, Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino, plus Industry Minister Tim Ayres \u201cseem more than happy to do the bidding for big tech\u201d, despite Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, Arts Minister Tony Burke and Communications Minister Anika Wells reassuring their stakeholders.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if they think the PM wants a public fight with the Australian music industry, they\u2019d probably want to think again,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n Tech companies say they need to train their systems on local data to ensure AI outputs reflect Australian nuance, vocabulary and concepts to close cultural gaps for customers. But rights holders say none of the major tech companies had approached them to strike a deal to license content since an exemption was ruled out.<\/p>\n Dean Ormston, who heads both music licensing body APRA AMCOS and the global body CISAC, said tech companies were avoiding licensing deals by \u201cpressuring the government\u201d rather than negotiating with artists.<\/p>\n He said Australia\u2019s copyright framework, as it stands, is fit for purpose and it was up to the tech companies to come to the table to strike licensing deals with the rights holders in Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cThey seem very adept at assessing the cost of electricity and water and where they might build data centres and the cost of all of that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it is absolutely mind-blowing that the core ingredient, the thing that is going to make their platforms of value to anybody, is the creative content on which it\u2019s all trained.\u201d<\/p>\n Ormston pointed to the UK government\u2019s decision last week to follow Australia\u2019s lead by ruling out an exemption on data mining and use of copyrighted works without permission to develop their software.<\/p>\n He said the sector would continue to press the government to ensure it doesn\u2019t go \u201cweak at the knees\u201d in favour of chasing big-tech investment.<\/p>\n Australian Writers\u2019 Guild chief executive Claire Pullen also questioned Charlton\u2019s remarks about whether copyright laws were failing.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it that they aren\u2019t working, or that foreign companies are trying to flout them by exploiting Australian creators?\u201d she said. \u201cReally AI companies should be talking to the creators and offering licensing solutions instead of lobbying for changes to copyright.\u201d<\/p>\n Ayres and Charlton this week warned they will need to comply with \u201cAustralian values\u201d following growing global angst about the energy and water demands of data centres.<\/p>\n Labor MP Ed Husic, demoted as industry minister following last year\u2019s election, said the idea that big tech should \u201cget a free ride\u201d was \u201ca joke.<\/p>\n \u201cThey cannot rip off people who earn income off their content,\u201d he said. \u201cThese big tech players will make a lot of money accessing this data. So they should pay up, pure and simple.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlton moved to reassure the creative sector on Wednesday, telling Sky News Australia the government placed huge value on Australian content and \u201cthose the holders of that copyrighted material should be compensated for it\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, who continues to consult industry stakeholders on reform, told stakeholders in Canberra on Thursday the government had no plans to weaken copyright protections when it comes to AI, including any text or data mining exceptions.<\/p>\n The renewed debate comes as Dario Amodei, chief executive of Anthropic, is set to meet with government officials next week. Now valued at about $US380 billion, Anthropic recently announced it would open a Sydney office.<\/p>\n Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Anthony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/8d5a8d50d37915c0c1fef20c84be0e239cc7f27d.jpeg\")
Anthony Albanese\u2019s minister are split over how to respond to AI investment.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n![\"Industry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774551731_833_06a04fcc8d6106eee6db6efb230066ba5c30edd0.jpeg\")
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<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Rob](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769252890_159_2e2c563a2c883f4262123a6f31f663ad728622cdd079d5da02f3e6a34b3716fd.png\")
Rob Harris<\/a> is the national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age based in Canberra. He is a former Europe correspondent.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 27, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-566174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}