QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (15:06): I thank the member for Curtin for her question and for her interest in what is an absolutely vital issue. We do want more of a stake in where AI is made and how it is made. We want more Australian companies and global companies developing AI here, on our terms, in our interests.

That is how we will have influence over these issues. As I said at Sydney university, in the speech I gave there, we want to make sure that the creativity created by our writers and our musicians is actually valued and that they have some control. If we do not participate in this process, we will not have any control.

We won't have a say, which is why we have prioritised this as an issue. We created the AI Safety Institute in November 2025, and I table the media release from Dr Andrew Charlton and Tim Ayres, 'Establishment of Australian AI Safety Institute'. That was an important organisation which is working closely with partner institutes in the UK and Canada.

It's also working very closely with the Australian Signals Directorate. You would have seen the comments by Abigail from ASD this week as well, who has also warned of some of the risks which are there. This institute will provide our agencies and security experts with up-to-date information and testing to respond to emerging risks.

AI safety is a whole-of-government responsibility, but that's also why we will be legislating for Australian standards on AI. All of that will be fed into the process through the committee chaired by the member for Maribyrnong, and I encourage all members to really participate in this. We want to make sure that we follow best practice.

The SPEAKER: The member for Curtin, on a point of order? Ms Chaney: The question was about increasing funding for the AI Safety Institute. The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister is being directly relevant in the answer.

Mr ALBANESE: It's just been established. It's just been established less than one year ago. Funding decisions are made through our ERC and budget process.

So we think that we want to make sure this follows best practice AI safety and security standards. We want to make sure that it works in ways that ensure Australian creators are in control of and retain ownership of their work and payment. And we want to make sure that data centres used for AI training aren't pushing up energy bills, impacting water resources or being built without meaningful community engagement.