Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Prime Minister, my constituents are concerned that the government is increasingly using automated tools to make decisions without proper safeguards. Nearly 1,000 Australians have had their income support payments unlawfully cancelled by an automated tool, automated aged-care support decisions are opaque and eroding trust, and more automation is expected under the NDIS changes. We need to keep the human in our human services. Why has your government still not actioned the robodebt royal commission recommendation to legislate safeguards and oversight for automated decision-making in government?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Curtin for her question. Issues around when and how the government uses automated decision-making are very important for us to grapple with as a parliament because AI is increasingly prevalent right across our society and right across our economy. Of course, we as a government have discussed in a great amount of detail the appropriate safeguards that we need when automated decision-making tools are used in any of our portfolios. Our approach is that in every case there needs to be human oversight of any use of AI. We don't just hand over decision-making to abstract computer programs, as was the case under robodebt, which caused such great suffering for 430,000 Australians. Of the robodebt royal commission's 52 recommendations, 93 per cent have been implemented, and, for the remaining four measures, work is ongoing; three of those four measures will require legislation.

Those opposite came up with an automated decision-making program that was designed simply to raise revenue. It was used to attack the most vulnerable people in our community. There is certainly no way that our government would ever do such a thing that we know resulted in the suicide of Australians who were impacted by this.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't understand why those opposite are interjecting on such an important issue. The reason we had a robodebt royal commission was because of your irresponsibility and cruelty in this area, which had real human consequences. The member for Curtin can be reassured that, whenever we use the opportunities that AI gives us to process information more quickly and more efficiently, that happens with strict guardrails and strict human oversight.