Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

At a recent visit to Murdoch University, in my electorate of Tangney, I was impressed by how this university is using artificial intelligence. There is a focus on how digital and AI capability can stimulate innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialisation of Murdoch research. There are opportunities to positively impact students, to transform research and to build a more inclusive and connected community.

Our Labor government wants to use the opportunities that come with AI to help improve life for working Australians. We want AI to help grow the economy and improve productivity while keeping Australians safe. AI can help solve some of the biggest challenges of the coming decades, challenges like reducing carbon emissions, challenges like improving health care. With incredible health and research campuses located right by Murdoch University, I'm especially excited about what healthcare challenges we might be able to solve right here in Tangney.

AI can contribute up to $200 billion a year to Australia's GDP. By 2030, it can create an additional 150,000 jobs. AI can increase annual labour productivity growth by over three per cent by 2030. We need to build AI capability so that we can ensure that Australia benefits from AI as developers, deployers, adaptors and users. This means having the right infrastructure, increasing AI skills and literacy and supporting industry innovation.

Australia can leverage our strengths, strengths in research and also as an incubator for innovation, with expertise in the agricultural, financial and health sectors. And we have many talented experts, people like Tangney's own Hamid Laga, from Murdoch University's School of Information Technology. Professor Laga's work in AI saw him awarded a prestigious Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council. Professor Laga will develop targeted mathematical tools and new machine-learning algorithms. Benefits from this research will be seen in the fields of computer vision and graphics, biology and health. These benefits will be felt across Australia and internationally. Australia is also an attractive destination for data centres. Investment in data centres will drive innovation in AI and lead to economic growth, ensuring we remain competitive on the global stage. Sustainable data centre investment is important. As the uptake in AI and data-intensive applications increases, so too does demand for energy and water. We need to minimise the impact on our natural resources, support the transition to net zero and ensure the benefits are shared across the community.

The government is also supporting the growth of AI companies. This includes a $17 million network of government funded AI Adopt Centres to help small to medium Australian enterprises responsibly adopt AI tools, the $47 million Next Generation Graduates programs to train job-ready graduates in skills needed by our AI and emerging technology industries, and $15 billion for the National Reconstruction Fund, providing targeted investment to diversify and transform Australian industry. This includes $1 billion for critical technologies, including AI. AI is vital to Australia's future economic resilience, competitiveness and productivity. In the Labor government, we are doing it.

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