![\"Josh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Josh_Butler.png\")
Josh Butler<\/p>\nGreens critical Labor \u2018still hasn\u2019t legislated a single enforceable protection\u2019 onJosh Butler<\/p>\n
The Greens have again called for a moratorium on new datacentres until the government\u2019s new legislated standards are in place, claiming there cannot be a \u201cfree for all\u201d until the new laws are enacted.<\/p>\n
Senator David Shoebridge was also critical of the delay in responding to the AI issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cA coordination office in Canberra doesn\u2019t stop a single kid getting harmed tonight, and no amount of branding changes the fact that this government still hasn\u2019t legislated a single enforceable protection,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Sarah Hanson-Young has called for a pause on new datacentre builds, and said this was important in the period before Labor\u2019s new laws \u2013 which Anthony Albanese said won\u2019t be introduced into parliament until \u201cearly next year\u201d \u2013 came into force. She said:<\/p>\n
double quotation markWe need a moratorium on the building of datacentres until there are laws in place to properly regulate their impact in Australia including energy, water use, environment and communities. It is essential that we get the rules right. To do that we need a pause on the approval and construction of new hyperscale datacentres while we do this important policy work.<\/p>\n
Just because big tech companies want to move at hyperspeed, doesn\u2019t mean that we need to fast-track and roll out the red carpet for them. We need to take the time to get this right, if we don\u2019t there will be serious consequences for our energy grid, water, environment and climate.<\/p>\n
Shoebridge raised concerns about \u201cconsent, privacy and surveillance risk\u201d.<\/p>\n
double quotation markAustralians need an independent AI regulator with real powers, mandatory guardrails, and legislated protections for kids, workers and creators.<\/p>\n
Updated at\u00a002.35 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Barnaby Joyce claims Australia is a \u2018Christian nation\u2019 and says many First Nations people would agree<\/p>\n One Nation\u2019s Barnaby Joyce has claimed First Nations people would agree with him that Australia is a \u201cChristian nation\u201d.<\/p>\n The New England MP made the comments at an anti-abortion gala \u2013 where he accepted a prize for \u201cpolitical courage\u201d \u2013 in Sydney over the weekend.<\/p>\n In an exchange posted on social media, Benjamin van der Linden from a group called Make Australia Christian Again asked Joyce if Australia was a Christian nation. Joyce said:<\/p>\n double quotation markYes, it was premised on Christian principles.<\/p>\n A lot of Indigenous people would tell you straight up and proper Australia\u2019s a Christian nation.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Kat Wong<\/p>\n Melbourne council votes to scrap Lime ebikes for failing to meet \u2018bare minimum standards\u2019<\/p>\n Shared ebikes will disappear from some inner-city Melbourne streets after a council scrapped its agreement with Australia\u2019s largest electric bike operator.<\/p>\n The City of Yarra on Tuesday voted to end its memorandum of understanding with Lime, terminating its almost six-year-long trial.<\/p>\n Though some councillors noted shared ebikes were an affordable and environmentally friendly transport option, others said the operator had not done enough to prevent users from blocking footpaths, dumping ebikes or riding while drunk.<\/p>\n Read the full story here:<\/p>\n Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The GuardianShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.42 EDT<\/p>\n Greens critical Labor \u2018still hasn\u2019t legislated a single enforceable protection\u2019 on The Greens have again called for a moratorium on new datacentres until the government\u2019s new legislated standards are in place, claiming there cannot be a \u201cfree for all\u201d until the new laws are enacted.<\/p>\n Senator David Shoebridge was also critical of the delay in responding to the AI issue.<\/p>\n \u201cA coordination office in Canberra doesn\u2019t stop a single kid getting harmed tonight, and no amount of branding changes the fact that this government still hasn\u2019t legislated a single enforceable protection,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n Sarah Hanson-Young has called for a pause on new datacentre builds, and said this was important in the period before Labor\u2019s new laws \u2013 which Anthony Albanese said won\u2019t be introduced into parliament until \u201cearly next year\u201d \u2013 came into force. She said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe need a moratorium on the building of datacentres until there are laws in place to properly regulate their impact in Australia including energy, water use, environment and communities. It is essential that we get the rules right. To do that we need a pause on the approval and construction of new hyperscale datacentres while we do this important policy work.<\/p>\n Just because big tech companies want to move at hyperspeed, doesn\u2019t mean that we need to fast-track and roll out the red carpet for them. We need to take the time to get this right, if we don\u2019t there will be serious consequences for our energy grid, water, environment and climate.<\/p>\n Shoebridge raised concerns about \u201cconsent, privacy and surveillance risk\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markAustralians need an independent AI regulator with real powers, mandatory guardrails, and legislated protections for kids, workers and creators.<\/p>\n A datacentre in Sydney. Photograph: Hollie Adams\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.35 EDT<\/p>\n Royal commissioner rejects line of questioning in cross-examination of Mark Scott<\/p>\n The royal commissioner, Virginia Bell, has rejected the line of questioning in a cross-examination of the vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney, Prof Mark Scott, over comments made by one of his former students.<\/p>\n Gabi Crafti SC is representing the Australasian Union for Jewish Students and Jewish communal groups. She asked Scott whether he had heard the evidence of Yasmin Johnson, a Jewish pro-Palestine activist who appeared as a witness on Monday.<\/p>\n Crafti pointed to Johnson\u2019s confirmation that she gave a speech in August 2025 on the University of Sydney\u2019s campus \u201cin which she called for the destruction of the State of Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markIs that tolerated at the University of Sydney?<\/p>\n Scott said she was a \u201cguest speaker\u201d and the university is not \u201cvetting speeches in advance\u201d.<\/p>\n double quotation markI totally reject her views. I do not believe that is an appropriate use of academic freedom and discourse. And I in no way support or associate myself with her comment.<\/p>\n Crafti asked if he would \u201cpermit that kind of thing to happen at the University of Sydney going forward\u201d, at which point the commissioner intervened:<\/p>\n double quotation markYou don\u2019t have to answer that, Professor. Ms Crafti, I think that\u2019s a difficult proposition to put to the witness. Will you not permit that to go ahead? We\u2019re talking about a university where a whole range of views might in many contexts be expressed. I\u2019m not going to allow that question.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.34 EDT<\/p>\n OpenAI welcomes chance to shape Australia\u2019s standards as a \u2018priority market\u2019 <\/p>\n OpenAI has committed to working with creators and industry on the new national AI standards the prime minister announced today.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the company said it had been engaging with the government for months on its commitment to building AI access and infrastructure in Australia and welcomed the chance to help shape Australia\u2019s approach. They said:<\/p>\n double quotation markAustralia has enormous potential to benefit from AI, and we want to work for and with Australia to help realise Australia\u2019s AI ambitions. This is truly a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Australia\u2019s economy and it\u2019s crucial the country gets this right.<\/p>\n We are committed to engaging constructively throughout this process with the government, creators and industry on an approach that is practical, sustainable and right for Australia.<\/p>\n Anthony Albanese today suggested artists and other creatives would keep copyright protections against AI model training and reuse. OpenAI said it was open to commercial agreements with individual publishers where appropriate, such as those it has signed with News Corp and Guardian Media Group, owner of this website.<\/p>\n OpenAI said Australia was a \u201cpriority market\u201d with half of all adults using ChatGPT.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.58 EDT<\/p>\n Mark Scott says there was a risk of the University of Sydney\u2019s pro-Palestine encampment \u2018blowing up\u2019 by forcibly disbanding it<\/p>\n The vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney, Prof. Mark Scott, has told the royal commission into antisemitism that he feared forcibly disbanding the campus\u2019s pro-Palestine encampment could have led to it \u201cblowing up\u201d and causing conflict.<\/p>\n The encampment, established on its front lawn in mid-2024, was the first and longest running in the nation. Scott said the university \u201cdidn\u2019t anticipate\u201d one would be established at the university because it hadn\u2019t been part of its \u201cprotest tradition\u201d and there weren\u2019t substantial preparations in place.<\/p>\n A pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Sydney in April 2024. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n In line with other universities, he said their priority was to \u201ctry and see a peaceful resolution\u201d of the encampment, but said it may have been a \u201creal failure\u201d not to consult further with Jewish groups.<\/p>\n double quotation markHow can we bring this encampment to a close peacefully without seeing the destruction and the turmoil that we\u2019d seen at major universities around the world? \u2026 I still felt the risk of the encampment blowing up by forcibly ending it. Police in riot gear taking students away could have seen an encampment 10 times the size the day after. And if you look at the experience in the United States, who knows who would have been drawn in to that kind of conflict.<\/p>\n But I can see that our Jewish students and staff paid a price for that as the encampment dragged on. And I am sorry to them that it took so long for us to get it done. And I\u2019m sorry we did not keep them more closely engaged in dialogue and listen more intently to them as it was going.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.54 EDT<\/p>\n Recording industry association says it\u2019s time for AI companies to licence content<\/p>\n Aria, the Australian Recording Industry Association, said it\u2019s now time for AI companies to move forward on content licensing after Anthony Albanese\u2019s speech on the technology boom.<\/p>\n Annabelle Herd, Aria\u2019s CEO, said in a statement:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe prime minister could not have been clearer: Australian writers and musicians keep ownership and control of their work. Artists control what that work is worth, not the government and not a technology company.<\/p>\n Control of price, value and terms of use are what underpin a commercial licensing market. The artist decides what their work is worth and who may use it. That is how licensing works everywhere else in the world and it is how it should work here. In the prime minister\u2019s words: anything less is theft.<\/p>\n This is clear message to AI companies: now is the time to get on with licensing. Right now deals are being signed across music, journalism and publishing around the world. Australia\u2019s creative industries are ready do business.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.34 EDT<\/p>\n University of Melbourne interim vice-chancellor disputes claim of a sector-wide failure to properly adopt antisemitism definition<\/p>\n Interim vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne (UoM), Prof Glyn Davis AC, has pushed back on an audit<\/a> conducted by the emeritus professor Greg Craven on behalf of the antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, which found no university was properly adopting <\/a>a definition of antisemitism.<\/p>\n He told the royal commission that he didn\u2019t accept Craven\u2019s assessment that the UoM hadn\u2019t incorporated a definition of antisemitism into their policies and procedures. The UoM was the first university in Australia<\/a> to publicly adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism in 2023.<\/p>\n He said:<\/p>\n double quotation markIt has been adopted in the same sense that the commonwealth government has adopted it. That is, a statement of principle and as a working definition of antisemitism and that\u2019s crucial \u2026 It isn\u2019t a definition by itself that takes you to disciplinary actions. It was not written for that point. That isn\u2019t its character \u2026<\/p>\n I don\u2019t accept that we haven\u2019t engaged with the definition, drawn it into our policies, used it to inform our discussions. It\u2019s part of the protocol for our appeals. It informs appeals panels when they come to make decisions. In that sense, I think it\u2019s perhaps an overstatement.<\/p>\n Photograph: EQRoy\/AlamyShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.22 EDT<\/p>\n That\u2019s all for me. Ima Caldwell will snag things from here. Enjoy the rest of your arvo.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7877.jpg\")
A datacentre in Sydney. Photograph: Hollie Adams\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Tory](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784098031_376_Tory_Shepherd.png\")
Tory Shepherd<\/p>\nJosh Butler<\/p>\n![\"Caitlin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Caitlin_Cassidy.png\")
Caitlin Cassidy<\/p>\n![\"Luca](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Luca_Ittimani.png\")
Luca Ittimani<\/p>\nCaitlin Cassidy<\/p>\nCaitlin Cassidy<\/p>\n![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Nick_Visser.png\")
Nick Visser<\/p>\n