Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I know they say comedy is subjective, but I probably would have engaged ChatGPT to write some better jokes! I'm pleased to be speaking on this motion today, brought to the House by the member for Casey, on the topic of AI. I trust the member for Casey is paying close attention to the things that are said in this Chamber today on this topic.

The Albanese Labor government is on record as stating it wants to seize the opportunities of AI in a way that improves the lives of working Australians. Indeed, in the last parliament I sat on committees that looked very carefully and seriously at the question of artificial intelligence in a range of settings. I was pleased by the bipartisan cooperation we were able to enjoy on those committees, and I invite the opposition to cooperate with the government once again.

Our approach to AI is consistent with our guiding principles—no-one held back, no-one left behind. We know AI and emerging technologies are creating new opportunities to increase our national competitive advantage. AI is vital to Australia's future economic resilience, competitiveness and productivity; we know this. AI can help solve some of the biggest challenges of the coming decades, including reducing carbon emissions, enhancing health care and improving citizens' interactions with one another and government.

In terms of the opportunity, we know AI has the potential to contribute up to $200 billion a year to Australia's GDP and to create an additional 150,000 jobs. Indeed, in my own electorate of Chisholm we have some of the country's brightest minds working in this space at our universities and within our business community. Deakin University, in my electorate, is home to the Applied Artificial Intelligence Initiative. This initiative has a focus on the translation of fundamental research into tangible outcomes and products that affect the wider community, covering a range of projects from trauma support and aged care to advanced manufacturing and security. This demonstrates quite clearly the breadth of opportunity that educational institutions like Deakin University are investing in and helping to facilitate when it comes to the practical application of AI.

Our brightest minds are leveraging AI to work on projects that involve deep learning and machine learning on projects like early cerebral palsy screening, assistive technology and autism research. These are researchers working on projects such as the virtual dementia experience, which is an immersive, emotive and interactive experience that aims to capture and simulate the experience of living with dementia. The Applied Artificial Intelligence Initiative enables Australian industries to leverage state-of-the-art breakthroughs within research settings and provides organisations the opportunity to explore otherwise unavailable solutions. I've taken ministers out to visit this facility, and I look forward to more visits to this outstanding university and to talking about this initiative over the course of the 48th Parliament. We know that building AI capability is critical to capturing the opportunity of AI. We know that Australia is an attractive place to invest because of its strategic location. And we also know Australia needs a regulatory environment that facilitates innovation while mitigating harms. And harm is a concern the community has, so it is our role as government to make sure we do what we can to mitigate those concerns.

We have a range of laws that regulate AI, including economy-wide laws on privacy, administrative law, online safety, corporations law, intellectual property, competition and consumer protection and antidiscrimination. We will continue to collaborate on the science of AI safety through the International Network of AI Safety Institutes. This is very important. When it comes to government initiatives concerning AI, we have of course established the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund, providing targeted investment to diversify and transform Australian industry. Forgive me, Deputy Speaker, for not taking seriously the free advice issued by the opposition today in light of the fact that they have absolutely decimated industry and sovereign capability in this country.

We're going to invest a billion dollars for critical technologies, including AI. There are lots of other programs that I'm afraid my time is too brief to run through today. But there should be no question in anybody's mind in this place or in this country that our government takes very seriously the opportunities presented to us as a nation through artificial intelligence. Thank you so much.

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