Portfolio — 17 July 2026

The Attorney-General, Ms Rowland, used three media releases on 16 July to lay out a coordinated portfolio agenda spanning AI governance, data infrastructure and modern slavery enforcement — each strand reinforcing the others as a coherent technology-and-rights framework.

On AI and intellectual property, the Attorney-General closed off two contested policy options in a single statement. Australia will not introduce a text-and-data-mining exemption for AI training, and that position will not be revisited [TA-260716-attorn-3e5dfb3242cd]. She also confirmed the government will not return to the disinformation provisions the Senate rejected, notwithstanding ongoing harms from AI-driven scams, deep-fake imagery, nudify applications and AI-generated child sexual abuse material [TA-260716-attorn-3e5dfb3242cd].

The dual closure signals that where the Senate has blocked action and where industry has lobbied for copyright concessions, the government is holding its position rather than negotiating revised instruments.

On supply-chain accountability, the Attorney-General announced a new criminal offence targeting large corporations [TA-260716-attorn-ef9bd77510e2]. Companies with annual revenue exceeding $100 million will face criminal liability if they fail to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains, subject to a defence for those that have taken reasonable steps [TA-260716-attorn-ef9bd77510e2].

The release referenced the Global Slavery Index and flagged that the enforcement framework will include a deferred prosecution agreement scheme — mechanisms that together signal an intent to match disclosure obligations with genuine legal consequence rather than relying on reporting alone. The Attorney-General's direct quote — "Australians rightly expect that the products they buy are not made on the back of modern slavery, which is why the Albanese Government is delivering a legislative framework with teeth" — framed the measure as a consumer-expectation argument as much as a human-rights one [TA-260716-attorn-ef9bd77510e2].

On data centre standards, the Attorney-General announced that mandatory minimum standards for new data centres will be set through National Cabinet following community engagement [TA-260716-attorn-441327c70bf7]. The stated aim is to give AI investors regulatory certainty while managing community concerns about energy use, water and noise — a framing that positions the standards as an enabler of investment rather than a constraint on it [TA-260716-attorn-441327c70bf7].

Routing the standards through National Cabinet is notable: it imports state and territory governments into a regulatory instrument that would otherwise sit entirely within Commonwealth communications and planning domains.

Taken together, the three releases constitute a portfolio position that refuses AI copyright concessions to protect Australian creators, imposes criminal liability on large corporations for supply-chain abuses, and constructs a national infrastructure standard to underpin AI investment. The Attorney-General is simultaneously tightening legal exposure for industry (modern slavery) and reducing regulatory uncertainty for it (data centres), while holding firm on copyright and disinformation.

No parliamentary stream was present for this date; the comms record stands alone.