STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator PAYMAN (Western Australia—Australia's Voice Whip) (13:49): In March, I addressed the chamber on a variety of topics, including the Public Service wide AI policy. Under this policy, 13 agencies missed the deadline to publish an AI transparency statement, and 30 agencies missed the deadline to appoint an AI accountable official. What's more concerning is the number of agencies who gave false evidence to committees of the Senate about this.

There are a few, so I'll go through them quickly. The Office of the Inspector-General of Aged Care gave false evidence to a committee because it 'misunderstood the question'. The Commonwealth Grants Commission misled a committee in relation to both elements of the policy in answers that it admitted were 'provided in error'.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau claimed that their incorrect evidence in relation to both elements was the result of a 'genuine mistake'. The Royal Australian Mint 'mistakenly' advised a committee that it had met the AI transparency statement deadline. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency actually did meet the accountable official deadline but for some reason told a committee that they didn't.

One of the agencies wrongly accused of missing the deadline later discovered why. Rather than making a simple Google search, the Digital Transformation Agency responsible for administering this policy had tried to guess their CEO's email address and got it wrong. When the bounce back landed in the DTA's inbox, it went straight to junk mail.

If this government can't even regulate its own use of AI, how can it be expected to regulate AI in our workplaces, our hospitals, our schools right across the country?