2026-11-10
The Albanese-Labor government’s announcement of a toothless regulator as the result of a PMO managed and Labor controlled committee process is another predictable capitulation to the interests of vampire US tech corporations over Australian people.
The recommendations maintain Labor’s plan for a massive national roll out of US data centres. They don’t include a single new legal power to curb the behaviour of these extractive corporations as they pertain to community consultation, environment, energy consumption, water consumption or copyright.
Attributable to Greens Leader Senator David Shoebridge:
“Australians are demanding a moratorium on new AI data centres and today Labor gave us all a word salad instead.
“This review is Albanese all over, messaging over substance and pretend reform in a desperate attempt to paper over his total surrender to US demands.
“The Prime Minister had the gall to announce another regulator without the powers and protections needed to hold these corporations to account.
“It’s utterly bizarre that just weeks after OpenAI was implicated in hacking a Medicare portal the Government’s key recommendation is to get closer to OpenAI.
“Sending public servants on secondment to the companies they’re meant to regulate is how regulators get captured. When those companies are vampire US AI companies the risks of this strategy are obvious.
“The weak recommendations in this review fall well short of responding to the real and growing public concern, a case in point is that even OpenAI supports mandatory reporting, while the PM only promises to “consider” it.
“Another recommendation is to “explore” protections for people reporting those incidents and vulnerabilities. These fundamental safety obligations should be mandatory.
“Safety keeps coming second to corporate investment, and this review locks that priority in by tying every AI safety effort to bringing in more AI money and more data centres.
“The Greens have joined calls from around the world for a binding international AI treaty, and all the government can offer here is more of the same talk at international forums.
“A report like this can only come from a captive agency controlled by a Government that is more interested in managing the messaging around AI than actually delivering the safety and control communities are calling for.
“AI data centres are sucking power out of the grid pushing power prices up for all of us, sucking construction workers out of the housing build and driving inflation, stealing artists' work, and Labor announces another toothless, powerless regulator with no new legal powers to stop them.
“Being a world leader in AI doesn’t mean being a doormat to big tech. It means being prepared to regulate it, to protect Australians and to make sure corporate profits don’t come at the expense of everyone else.”