{"id":771665,"date":"2026-07-01T08:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T08:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/771665\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T08:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T08:09:12","slug":"creatives-sound-alarm-on-copyright-as-pocock-calls-50bn-datacentre-proposal-ultimate-dirty-deal-datacentres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/771665\/","title":{"rendered":"Creatives sound alarm on copyright as Pocock calls $50bn datacentre proposal \u2018ultimate dirty deal\u2019 | Datacentres"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creatives are demanding further assurances from the Albanese government that it won\u2019t water down copyright laws under a potential deal with tech firms to attract more than $50bn worth of datacentre investment<\/a> in exchange for a $350m-a-year fund for artists.<\/p>\n

Guardian Australia has been told an industry proposal has been presented to cabinet that would grant AI companies special exemptions to mine creative content.<\/p>\n

In exchange, the companies would bankroll the artists\u2019 fund and commit more than $50bn worth of investment in datacentres.<\/p>\n

Independent senator David Pocock<\/a> said the proposal was the \u201cultimate dirty deal\u201d as he demanded the government categorically rule it out.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

The government insisted it had no plans to weaken copyright protections.<\/p>\n

The potential adoption of a text and data mining exemption<\/a> would represent a major reversal from the federal government, which last year ruled it out after criticism from artists, authors and media groups.<\/p>\n

Amid fears the government could capitulate, a delegation of creatives staged a press conference in parliament house on Wednesday to urge the government to hold the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that copyright law should be watered down or chiselled away at to provide a freebie or a handout to gigantic multinational, multi-billion dollar companies to train their AI models makes absolutely no sense to me,\u201d said Paul Dempsey, the lead of singer of Something for Kate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI simply don\u2019t get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The author Anna Funder described herself as a \u201cvictim of crime\u201d, citing the ease with which big technology had made money from her books.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy books that I\u2019ve lived off for 30 years, have all been hoovered up in many editions, in many countries, in many languages by big tech, broken down for parts and used for them to make money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pocock last week revealed<\/a> he had been provided with information showing Anthony Albanese was preparing to announce a plan on or about 15 July, which may offer expedited approvals and investment for new datacentres.<\/p>\n

Albanese confirmed last week he would deliver a major speech in July about the government\u2019s approach on AI. He met with representatives of Anthropic last week.<\/p>\n

Guardian Australia understands there are splits within the government about the best approach for managing AI and the rights of creators, with senior ministers arguing about possible exemptions from copyright rules or licensing models.<\/p>\n

The former industry minister Ed Husic had argued for new AI guardrails and consideration of major new laws<\/a>, but he was dumped from cabinet in 2025. Tim Ayres, his successor in the portfolio, is in favour of a lighter touch approach.<\/p>\n

The government rejected Pocock\u2019s claims as inaccurate and insisted its position on a text and data mining exemption had not changed.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n

Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n

Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But Pocock was adamant the information was correct.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat cabinet is considering is the ultimate dirty deal, selling out Australian musicians, writers, authors and other creatives in return for an eye-wateringly large investment in AI data centres, which, as we know, are currently wildly unregulated in this country,\u201d he said in a speech to parliament on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government has criticised me a lot, but has not denied it, because it is true. The government needs to get up in this place and categorically rule out any carve-out, any exemption, any watering down of copyright exemptions now and into the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo sell out Australian creatives would be a reckless act.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to Guardian Australia on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said the government had \u201crepeatedly said that there are no plans to weaken copyright protections when it comes to AI\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are committed to ensuring that Australia has a fit-for-purpose copyright framework that protects and supports Australia\u2019s creative and media industries while unlocking AI innovation,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The government is encouraging the tech giants and creatives to work together to negotiate deals to \u201csupport innovation while ensuring creators are compensated\u201d.<\/p>\n

The musician Holly Rankin, whose stage name is Jack River, said artists were prepared to make deals.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the government we say, \u2018don\u2019t back down, do not sign our rights away\u2019, and to big tech we say \u2018ask us, get permission, pay us, we are here ready to do deals with you\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Guardian Australia is among the media companies supporting the campaign to safeguard copyright laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Creatives are demanding further assurances from the Albanese government that it won\u2019t water down copyright laws under a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-771665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771665","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=771665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}