He has held it on a safe margin for three decades, and has spoken of its high representation of live music, theatre and artist spaces with pride<\/a>.<\/p>\n But now, as Labor considers giving AI companies unrestricted access<\/a> to Australian creatives\u2019 works by default<\/a> as it pursues a compromise with US tech giants, locals are reacting with dismay.<\/p>\n Labor is mulling over the copyright changes in a suite of reforms surrounding AI, including datacentres, energy and the economy. While Albanese has promised \u201cthe strongest possible protection\u201d, warning it would be \u201ctheft\u201d if creatives weren\u2019t paid for their work, creative industries are alarmed that AI companies have requested a weakening of copyright law to train their models using Australian material.<\/p>\n Some AI companies have said making licensing agreements under existing copyright law would be too difficult, while Anthropic suggested an \u201copt-out\u201d model which would allow it to scrape content unless a rightholder objected, prompting warnings from Coalition senators and the recording industry that this could amount to an acquisition of property by the government.<\/p>\n The federal government\u2019s draft laws are expected by the end of the year, with consideration in parliament due in 2027.<\/p>\n Pete Strong says AI is \u2018the wild west and we really need to push back\u2019. Photograph: Liz Ham\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Pete Strong is a screenprinter and Greens councillor for Bayside. His business is based in Grayndler, with his solar-powered wheelie bin sound systems a fixture around the inner west.<\/p>\n He said AI could be \u201cgood for humanity\u201d but is now an \u201cextraction industry mining for profit for the few\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m completely against [the federal government\u2019s proposal],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s obviously an AI gold rush at the moment, it\u2019s the wild west and we really need to push back. It\u2019s hard enough being a starving artist these days without having all your work taken and used in these nefarious ways.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up for Guardian Australia\u2019s Politics, really newsletter here<\/a><\/p>\n This year Strong curated a show called \u201coverthrow the algorithm\u201d. He has also been a vocal critic of a proposed datacentre at Cooks Cove.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen a backlash [to the government] already,\u201d he said. \u201cIt started with the datacentre uprising.\u201d<\/p>\n Labor\u2019s proposals were leaked<\/a> in September as senior personnel from OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT<\/a>, met Labor ministers and warned that Australia\u2019s copyright laws were preventing the company from training models locally.<\/p>\n For the inner west designer and artist Lu Campbell-Smith, AI has been useful in her practice. But she said having to opt out was \u201coutrageous\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just really pinpoints how Australia\u2019s [a] test market and they\u2019re happy for us to just be a little resource to be exploited,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy would anyone want to make anything and post anything online if \u2026 you\u2019re creating free content for an AI machine?\u201d<\/p>\n Lu Campbell-Smith at her desk in Tortuga Studio\u2019s co-working space called the aerie. Photograph: Liz Ham\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Grayndler has always been an ultra-safe Labor seat. Albanese\u2019s face as a much younger man is plastered on to cans of Albo Pale Ale at Willie the Boatman brewery in St Peters. For the past few elections, he has won on first preferences alone.<\/p>\n But at the next federal election, he will be challenged by 28-year-old Hannah Ferguson<\/a>, the co-founder of Cheek Media, who will run as an independent<\/a>.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter |Every weekday<\/p>\n Sign up to Politics, really<\/p>\n Our political team brings you up to speed on the stories that really matter and what they mean for you<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n No sitting member has lost their seat from such a margin at a federal election. Were it not for the longstanding popularity of Albanese, Grayndler would have been a prime target for the Greens and progressive independents.<\/p>\n Now, Ferguson is betting that his popularity is waning. And polling indicates the same. Guardian Australia\u2019s latest Essential poll<\/a> shows Albanese\u2019s disapproval rating at 56%, the equal highest since he took office.<\/p>\n A moss-covered computer artwork by Morgan-Harris sits beside the entry to the aerie. Photograph: Liz Ham\/The Guardian<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793484489_282_Politics_really_trail_1x1.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
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