Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the matter of public importance in Senator McKim's name. This particular matter is really important because it highlights the failure of the Albanese government to protect Australia's environment, water, jobs, data and national interests in the march towards allowing the United States to set up hyperscale, massive, big data centres here in Australia. They are rolling out the red carpet before they've even worked out what Australia is going to get back in return.

We know that the regulations are not there. We know that Australians are very suspicious of what these big tech companies—these big AI companies—want to do right here in Australia. What we do know is that they want to be able to mine the intellect, the knowledge and the culture of the Australian community and pay nothing for it. We know that. But we also know that they want to set up shop here because Australia's regulations are weak—virtually non-existent. Australia is one of the only countries in the world that are seen as good placement for these types of centres, because of our safety, a lack of regulation and, of course, the government's willingness to roll over as soon as the dollar signs start shining.

I say to the Albanese government: stop being so starry eyed about this. Australians deserve to know and to be assured about what the real implications of artificial intelligence mean for them—what they mean for our jobs, what they mean for our water and our environment, and what they mean for our intellectual property rights. What do they mean for our national security? At the moment, the government can't answer any of those questions. They are simply rolling out the red carpet for billionaire after billionaire. We need to make sure Australians are in the conversation.